Starless
by DaqousButterfly
Summary: Unable to take the heartache, Marco leaves Star and ends up getting some new abilities. Upon learning that Star, and even Mewni, could die without his help, he swears to defend her to the best of his ability. It's all on Marco, Star, and co. to save Mewni, Earth, and every other dimension, while working out their own personal issues. Rated M for lemons. Yes. Those things.
1. Void Feelings

Hello! This is my first attempt at a fanfic. I've had some ideas for my own story about SVTFOE floating around and just wanted to put them down somewhere. The latest episode that just premeired, Lava Lake Beach, actually fit pretty well into my ideas, so I wrote this starting chapter which takes place a few days or so after that episode. This is just my own plot for SVTFOE's story, not how I actually think it will go down. Enjoy!

* * *

 _"This is awful."_

Marco repeatedly twirls the dimensional scissors over in his hands. Sitting on his bed, staring blankly at the wall, he's thinking over the events of the past few days and trying to sort his feelings.

 _"I guess Tad was right. I am really good at making myself miserable."_ He thinks, recalling what Tad had said...

 _'You have dimensional scissors! You could be knocking back soda pops, and crushing pizzas in any dimension! And you're choosing to live with your unavailable crush? When it comes to making yourself miserable, you are the master, bro.'_

 _"Why am I here? What's keeping me here? Star doesn't need protecting or help now. I don't feel good at all being here... Why am I still here?"_ Marco looks down at his scissors. _"I could go... This will only hurt me more. And eventually hurt Star."_

 _"Star would be furious if I just left. Besides, where would I go? Quit being a crybaby. I put Star through the same exact thing."_

The thought didn't help Marco feel any less pained.

 _"If that's the only reason I can come up with to stay..."_

"I... I should... go..." he says quietly.

"Go where?"

Marco jumped up immediately at the second voice, looking up at his door to see Star peeking in. He hadn't heard he door open at all.

"Wha- no- nowhere!" Marco stutters out. "Did you need something?"

"Marco?" Star looks at him with slight worry on her face. "Are you okay? You didn't hear me open the door and you've been staring down for a bit. What's in your hand?" Star moves a bit closer and Marco hurriedly places the scissors on the bed just behind him.

"It's nothing, Star." Marco says as he smiles at her. "I was just thinking about what to do today."

Star looks at him intently, clearly not buying that reason and still walking toward him to see what he's hiding behind him. Just as she opens her mouth to respond, Tom appears at the door and peeks in. "Hey, Star, I found the movie we were looking for. It was under your bed, I thought you said you looked there!" He teases.

As Star turns around to talk to Tom, Marco slides the scissors under his pillow to keep them hidden. Star wasn't dumb, if she saw the scissors she would put that together with what she'd heard Marco say and be very worried. _"Best not make her worry over my problems. Which, of course, includes not mentioning my feelings."_

The movement behind Star's back had not gone unnoticed by Tom, however, and Tom gives the pillow a quick glance, then glances at Marco, before looking back at Star.

"I did look! I swear I did!" Star exclaims.

"Maybe we need to get your eyes checked." Tom teases again as he hands her the movie. "Take this and head upstairs while I go grab some snacks."

"Oh, Marco, I was going to invite you before..." Star frowns, remembering that she still hadn't seen what Marco had. To her surprise, when Marco stood up, there was nothing behind him or in his hands. "Uh... Never mind... anyway, you wanna join?" She smiles at him brightly.

Just as Marco is about to accept the invite on instinct, his mind flashes back to Tom and Star kissing on the beach. "I... don't really feel up to a movie right now."

Star tilts her head with a looks at him with a confused and somewhat doubtful face. _"Man, she's not as oblivious as she used to be."_ Marco thinks to himself. _"Or I'm just too easy to read right now... which is much more likely."_ Marco wasn't ever very great at hiding his feelings. His old crush on Jackie was pretty much public knowledge to everyone before they had been together.

"You, Marco Diaz, don't want to watch a movie? Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" Star jokes lightly and Marco recognizes this as her method of giving him a second chance to accept the offer and avoid having an awkward moment with Tom there.

But he just couldn't bring himself to take it.

"Sorry Star, I just haven't been feeling well." As she opened her mouth to reply, Marco added, "Don't let me stop you from having fun! I'm just going to go to rest and I should feel better." Marco gave the most genuine smile he could manage, and it did seem to quell Star enough to leave.

But she still gave a look that said she didn't believe him and they were going to talk about this later. "Okay, Marco. Rest well, and please feel better."

She walked out of Marco's room as Marco went to his bed and lay on his back, looking over at the door. "Could you close the door, Tom?"

Tom remains silent for a few seconds, then utters a quick "Yeah." and shuts the door behind him.

Marco lays his head down, moving a hand under the pillow he's laying on and grabbing the scissors. _"I can't hide my feelings. This is going to hurt her. I'm going to hurt her the moment she catches on. I don't think she knows just yet, but she knows something's up. I can't do this. I can't hide this."_

Marco becomes lost in the battle going on in his mind for only a few seconds or so before...

~skrtch~

Marco bolts upright at the sound of the door being opened. Star is standing there with a frown and discontent written all over her face. "Marco." she says sternly. "What is wrong?"

 _"Man, I cant lie to her, and I can't tell her what's wrong."_ Marco sits up on the bed and tries to come up with some sort of excuse as Star notices what's in his hand.

 _"What's he doing with the dimensional scissors?"_ Star ponders over this for roughly 5 seconds before linking that with what Marco had said earlier.

"Marco!" She yells, eyes wide and a stunned look on her face. "You were thinking about leaving!?"

"I- I..." Marco couldn't think of any reply to defend himself that she would believe and that wouldn't give away his feelings.

"Marco..." she says softly, walking over to him and sitting on the bed next to him. "Just tell me what's wrong..."

Marco looks down and to the left, away from Star. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing if you were going to leave!" Star exclaims loudly. "Marco, this isn't okay. You need to tell me what's on your mind. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"I can't."

"Why."

"I just can't."

"Marco, I-"

"Just leave it, Star."

"Wha- No! I just-"

"Star, it's-"

"Tell me what's wrong."

"No."

"Tell me what's wrong!"

"No! I ca-"

"That wasn't a request, Marco!" She yells very angrily. "Tell me what's wrong! Right. Now!"

Marco could feel the well of feelings building up inside him, the need to tell her, to tell her how he felt and how hurt he was every time he saw her with Tom. The need to cry and throw something and scream and break everything in reach."

 _"I can't keep it in like this, I'm about to let it all out. I'm about to seriously hurt my best friend, and her relationship. I have to leave."_

 _"Now."_

Marco stands up and walks a few paces away from Star.

"Marco!" Star's voice was a mix of concern and anger. Her eyes go wide as Marco uses the scissors and opens a portal in front of him. A strange portal that was a mix of white and black that she'd never seen, that she has no idea where it leads to.

 _"No! No no no no no!"_

She stands and screams at the top of her lungs, "MARCO DÍAZ DON'T YOU DARE!"

Marco looks down and turns his head toward her, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes.

Red eyes. Tears. Eyes filled with a sadness she'd never seen from Marco. Star recoils and falls down on the bed, surprised to see Marco crying, who she'd almost never seen cry.

"M-Marco... please... I just want to help..." Star says quietly, tears forming in her eyes. "Don't... don't go... please... I can help... whatever it is, I can... We can fix anything... We're best friends..."

Marco turns away and uses every bit of will he has to force himself forward. "Sorry..." he says quietly as he enters the portal.

"No, no!" Star bolts towards the portal which closes just moments before she can reach it. "Marco no! NO!" Star falls to her hands and knees, crying and screaming as loud as she could.

 _"No no no, Marco, please come back. No no no this can't happen. Marco, why why no please..."_

"NONONO!"

 ***Meanwhile...***

Tom stands at the table in the kitchen looking down, staring though he wooden tabletop, lost in thought.

 _"Of course he has feelings for her. Why did I expect different?"_

Tom grits his teeth and closes his eyes, trying very hard to control his anger.

 _"It doesn't matter that she didn't realize it now his feelings now, she will eventually. It's fate. They were destined to be together since the Blood Moon Ball. I knew this."_

 _"Then why am I trying to be with her?"_ His more sensible side asks himself.

 _"... So that I can enjoy being with her... before she's taken from me..."_ Tom calms down and pictures Star with that big smile she wears so often. He smiles and shakes his head. _"Because... who wouldn't want to see that smile as much as possible? Even knowing it's temporary, I still... I still want to enjoy the time I can with her... times where I can call her mine..."_

Tom moves to grab snacks and drinks for the movie with Star. _"I already decided to do this, knowing it would end, knowing it wasn't to be, but it still makes me happy right now."_

 _"And when Star decides to leave? Just let her go. Her happiness comes first."_

 _"Of course, it's easy to say when you aren't in that position yet. Once it happens, I'm sure I won't feel the same way... I'll probably be just like Marco..."_ Tom thinks of Marco sliding whatever object he had been trying to hide from Star under the pillow earlier. _"At least he is trying to keep it secret. I'll give the human points for that. He isn't trying to force me out and hurt her in the process. There's no need to hurt Star over it... Over something, inevitable. We really are alike, masking pain to keep Star happy..."_

Tom sighs as he walks up the stairs to Star's room, where she's brought a TV in to watch the movie.

"... you dare!"

Tom swears he hears screaming as he walks up the stairs. Surely loud enough for half the castle to hear. He reaches the top of one flight of stairs and sees the next flight of stairs up to Star's room at the end of the hall, with Marco's room on the right several rooms down, right before the stairs. As he was about half way to the second set of stairs and about to pass Marco's room, he hears Star's voice, loud and clear this time.

"No, no!... Marco, no! NO!"

Tom starts running toward Marco's room. When he arrives seconds later, he only sees Star on the ground, screaming, crying, clutching her head.

"Star! Star!?" Tom immediately kneels down and wraps his arms around her, pulling her head up to a kneeling position. "What's wrong?" He looks around the room. "Where's Marco?"

Star struggles to say anything through the crying, only manage to choke out, "Gone."

Tom takes another look around the room. Marco is nowhere to be seen. Tom wanted to ask more questions, but Star clearly couldn't answer any right now. He held on to her and did his best to calm her down, as he heard footsteps running toward the room.

 _"Her parents, most likely. Those screams were loud..."_ Tom thinks.

"We'll find him, Star. He couldn't have gone far." Tom reassures her. Of course, he didn't know Marco had left using the dimensional scissor. He had no idea that Marco could literally be anywhere right now. He was only trying to comfort Star.

Star, however, knowing the situation, did not find this promise comforting, and only cried harder.

King and Queen Butterfly arrive and are shocked and confused, looking in horror at Star wailing helplessly.

They would eventually calm her down enough to get the story out. They checked at his home, his school, even at Hekapoo's. Anywhere that Marco had been before. But there was no trace of Marco Díaz.

* * *

Poof. Marco Díaz is gone. More to come. Feel free to review! Thanks for reading!


	2. Daqous

Just throwing up another chapter. As I've said, this is NOT where I think the story is going, just my own spin on the story. This is a lot of talking, and Marco may seem a bit OOC by just taking all this information in with seemingly little resistance, but he's down and doesn't want to really start a fight, and he understands quickly that this guy doesn't like to repeat himself. Anyway, Enjoy.

* * *

Marco takes several minutes to recollect himself. He breaths in slowly, and when he is as calm as he could be, he begins to look around and ponders where he is. He hadn't had any place in mind when he opened the portal, so he had no idea where the portal would lead. Looking around, he is in a swirling vortex of black and white. The 'ground' beneath his feet isn't visible, it looked like he is standing on air inside of the vortex. Ahead of him is a man, floating in front of a large mirror, watching it. The mirror is constantly changing scenes. As Marco approaches the man from behind, he hears him speak.

"Marco Diaz. Finally, you arrive." With that, before Marco can really take in what the man had said, the man snaps his fingers and black tendrils appear between the two of them. They immediately dart toward Marco, at a speed that Marco has no chance of reacting against. The tendrils pierce through his chest and he jerks backwards, but strangely, there is no pain. The black tendrils enter his body and Marco's hands shake.

"Wha- what did you do to me?" Marco asks shakily, unable to stop shivering.

The man turns to face Marco. He has short, black hair, with shining light-gray eyes. His outfit was a nice suit that couldn't seem to decide what color it wanted to be: white or black. Swirls of both colors mingled and mixed on the vest and pants, making for a very bizarre image. "I have given you the powers that I was tasked to give you. Nothing more."

 _"What? What does that mean?"_ Marco thinks to himself. His hands curl into fists as he puts every effort into not shaking.

"It means..." the man speaks again. "that you now have Dark magic. Before you ask, yes, I can read your thoughts." the man adds as Marco's face shows surprise. "Allow me to explain this to you. Sit." the man gestures toward the couch in front of the big mirror.

Marco, unable to think of any way to fool a man who can read his thoughts, takes up the offer to sit, still very wary of this mysterious man.

"You and Star Butterfly were supposed to rivals. You were-"

"Wait, excuse me? Me and _Star_? How could we ever have been enemies?" Marco shakes his head at the nonsense he's already hearing. "And what does that have to do wi-"

"Allow me to explain it." the man interrupts. "You were supposed to be enemies. At some point in the future you were to find your way here and gain this power in order to combat against her. However, the future is never so certain. Queen Butterfly's decision to send Star to Earth rather that St. Olga's changed that future. You became close friends. Despite this, I was tasked to give you the powers, and so you arriving here, despite this not being the predicted situation that you would have attained, means I am to give you this power. It is that simple."

"I..." Marco was processing the short story the man had told him. "We were supposed to be enemies? The future changed? How would you even know any of this? Who _are_ you?"

"This mirror tells me the future, or, to be more accurate, the most probable future given current decisions." the man explains. "As for my name, you may call me Daqous. I am the watcher of the world. That is my only job. Watch, not act. I was, however, given instructions to give you these abilities."

"Why me?" Marco asks.

"I do not know. I did not inquire."

"Who told you to give them to me?"

"I can not say."

"I was supposed to be evil?"

"Not evil, just on the monster's side. You know monsters are not inherently evil."

"I know..." Marco is very put off by this man. He talks in a neutral tone, as if all matters in the worlds that he watches matter little to him. "How can I use magic?"

"All beings had the potential for magic long ago. The ability was taken away from nearly every race. Even most Mewmen lost the ability to truly use magic, but the royal family found a replacement in using the wand. You had the potential, and I gave you the power and opened the channels to use it."

"No wand?"

"You will not require a wand. Now you naturally create magic."

"Why me?"

"I've answered that."

"Why Dark magic?"

"Because it is fitting to your personality."

"How!? I'm not evil!" Marco looks at Daqous in shock.

"Darkness is not evil, and vice versa. Dark magic and Evil magic are two separate things, though the worlds views them as the same. Your affinity to Light or Dark magic is dependent on what determines your decision-making. If it is your morals that decide, you have a natural Light affinity. If your emotions control your decisions more than morals, your affinity is Dark. You have never been one to choose due to morals, but rather emotions. Wanting to help friends. Wanting to protect those you love. So your affinity is Dark."

"Okay..." Marco was trying to absorb this all in on the first go. Daqous didn't seem like the kind of person who would repeat himself. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Whatever you wish. It's your power."

"I don't have to fight Star?"

"You don't have to do anything you don't wish to."

"You said I was supposed to."

"It was what was supposed to happen, but the future changed, as it constantly does."

Marco breathes a sigh of relief. "So I can go now?"

"Yes."

"Just... free magic?"

"Indeed."

"..."

"..."

"Well then... I guess I'll go." Marco says quietly.

"Be aware, the moment you leave this particular dimension, you can never return."

"Got it." Marco says, and as he stands up, just before he turns away, something on one of the many displaying scenes on the mirror catches his eye.

Star Butterfly. On the ground. Dead.

Marco's eyes go wide and he just points at the screen, unable to talk.

Daqous notices the action and he follows the finger. "Ah, yes, it appears the future is unkind to Princess Star."

Marco's jaw drops and he stares at Daqous for a small bit of time before speaking. "How can-... How can you just... Not care? That's Star!"

"It's only the future, boy, and I have seen many deaths on this mirror. One more is little for me to care for."

"But-" Marco realizes then that this man is very much like Glossaryck. Neutral. Not caring who win, loses, lives, dies. Simply watching and perform their duties. He looks back at the screen in disbelief. "No, no..." He may have left Star, but that in no way meant he could accept this.

"If it comforts you, this is merely the most likely outcome at the current moment. The future can always be changed." Daqous says, with no warmth in his voice.

"How do I stop it?"

"Prevent her from dying."

"How!?"

"However possible."

"I'm serious!"

"Seriously, there are many different ways to avoid this outcome. Find one if you so wish."

Marco directly faces Daqous. "Teach me to use my magic."

Daqous looks to the side at Marco. "Very well."

Marco, again, looked shocked. "Just like that?"

"It is another job of mine to teach those who arrive here how to best use their magic."

"I- I see." Marco was still reeling at all of the information he had recently acquired. Dark magic, future mirror, Light and Dark, Star dead... He really wanted to have those elaborated on more, but he'd had a strong feeling getting information from this man would be a pain since he walked in. "What other jobs do you have?"

"To provide a piece of the mirror to those who find their way here. You can take a piece as you leave."

"Who else has been here?"

"No one."

"How long will it take to train me?"

"A week. In this dimension's time. That equals about 6 weeks in your dimension."

"How far in the future is this event happening?"

"You will be done with training two days before her death occurs."

"Her death isn't going to happen." Marco says determinedly.

"As of now, it is. I will treat it as true until it changes."

"Fine."

"Let us prepare to train you."

"Okay." Marco takes in a deep breath.

 _"I may not be able to be around her, but I can still protect her. She is not going to die. Sure, maybe someone changes the future and saves her. But what if no one does? What if the decisions they make, even ones to save her, all lead up to her dying?"_ Marco gasps. _"What if me deciding to try to save her ends up being a reason she dies?"_ Marco looks back at the mirror to see if his decisions has changed the outcome and to his horror, he still sees Star, unmoving. _"No, I can't do anything?"_

"The decisions of those who enter this dimension can not be noticed by the mirror anymore." Daqous explained, reading into Marco's mind again. "That is, your decisions and choices will not change what the mirror reflects, until you do the action required. You may determine to save her life, and that would normally change the mirror if you would be successful, but now that you've been here, the mirror will not change until you actually do it. Your, and now only your, decision itself will not reflect in the mirror. In short, your mind is invisible to the mirror. So whether or not you would succeed or fail, the mirror will reflect her death unless someone else made a decision or action that would avoid this."

"O- okay..." Marco was a bit lost, but he did think he understood what Daqous was saying. If I saw a cake laying on a table, and someone made the decision that they want to eat it, the cake would be gone in the future. But if I decided to eat it, it wouldn't be gone in the mirror until I did eat it... Right?"

"Exactly."

"Okay." Another sigh of relief. "Let's start then."

"Let us begin."

* * *

And that's that. Next chapter we'll be heading back to see what's going on at Mewni castle. We'll be seeing more of Daqous. Feel free to review. Hope you're enjoying it. See ya'll.


	3. Thoughts

Chapter three is up. I've really been just typing a storm, plus I've been off from work yesterday and today. Don't expect this sort of extremely fast upload schedule to be normal. I've just been making this story in my head for a week+ amount of time and have had a lot of time.

* * *

 _"What did I do?"_

Star is sitting on her bed, arms around her legs and head resting on her knees. It's late in the morning after the events last night that had led to Marco leaving. She hadn't slept at all last night, despite promising her parents and Tom that she would. She'd been crying the whole night, and if she hadn't cried herself out, she'd still be doing so.

 _"It had to have been me, right? That's why he wouldn't tell me. What did I do?"_ Star grits her teeth, urging more tears to come out, to let these feelings out. But she'd cried herself out of tears, and it didn't feel great to not get more out. _"What did I do..."_ Star goes through every event that's happened since Marco had gotten to Mewni, tries to figure out when his attitude had changed.

 _"He didn't seem himself at the beach, so maybe... Maybe he really didn't like me choosing not to figure out why I keep traveling into other dimensions in my sleep. That's what had happened before we all went to the beach..."_ Star knows that's not it, that Marco wouldn't be that upset over something like that, but she has no idea what it could have been and this made the most sense, and in her very saddened state, she clings onto that answer completely. _"That must be it. Or maybe something happened while I was asleep. Maybe I did something to him while I was asleep."_

Star can't think of another reason. She sits there thinking about this, blaming herself. _"Please Marco... come back... I'm sorry..."_

 ***Meanwhile***

King and Queen Butterfly had put out a notice over the night for Marco being missing. It was the best they could do, as they couldn't rightly send people off to _every_ dimension in search of him. They had also discussed this matter with each other and a few specific others. It was made clear that any sighting of Marco be reported immediately.

They asked Hekapoo what she knew about a black and white portal, but are disappointed to not find any better answers.

"Black and white? I've never actually seen it, but it's said that it's a portal to a legendary being of unequaled power. This being watches the events of the world and is said to possess all manner of magic. That's all a myth, of course. I can't guarantee it's true." Hekapoo holds her scissors and looks at them intently. "I, myself, have attempted to open up such a portal. But with no knowledge of where the destination is, I simply can't open it up. I have no idea where Marco would have gotten this knowledge."

"Thank you, Hekapoo." says Queen Butterfly. Hekapoo turns to leave the room and the Queen turns to the King. "Well, this is certainly a mess."

"That it is, my dear."

"Why do you think he would have left?"

"You mean..." King Butterfly looks at her almost amusedly. "You mean you can't guess?"

The Queen raises an eyebrow and questions, "What does that mean? Should I know?"

"The boy quite clearly has feelings for Star! I don't imagine he was too happy mulling about the castle seeing Star with the boyfriend of hers." King Butterfly smiles lightly.

"You think that's it?" the Queen seems very skeptical. "I admit I have not spent as much time with him as you have, but from what I have seen, he is extremely loyal to Star and against any harm coming to her. I can not imagine him leaving and hurting her over something like this."

"No one imagines doing something like this unless they are pushed to." the King shakes his head. "The boy is very kind, but you can only ask so much of someone. Watching the one you like with another is extremely cruel. Add on top of that the fact that he likely feels out of place and not useful here, and I can very easily see why he would want to leave. The boy's feelings are always visible, he likely wanted to avoid Star knowing his feelings."

"You seem to like this boy, as well as know a lot about him. I would say that you may have been watching him closely since he was here." Queen Butterfly chuckles softly.

"No boy will get near my daughter without my knowledge of how they think and act!" King Butterfly laughs. "That I can promise."

"Yes..." the Queen's smile fades. "Regardless, I can't imagine why he wouldn't just go home, or to someplace familiar. I can't deny that he has helped Star immensely. I don't wish to see harm come to him. We must find out where he is."

"We will, my dear. I wouldn't be surprised if he came back on his own. The boy may well change his mind and return. And he isn't as defenseless as one might believe. He fought alongside Star every time Ludo attacked them, didn't he? He will be fine, and we will locate him, whether he comes to us, or we find him." King Butterfly smiles widely.

"Well someone is certainly optimistic today. Perhaps you could share some of that with our daughter." the Queen looks upwards in the general direction of Star's room. "She has not left her room since we brought her there last night. Her boyfriend, Tom, has been sitting in Marco's room, directly downstairs from her room so that he can hear if she has another... moment. He is a dear, very caring towards Star, but I don't think she's even talking to him about this. I'm very worried for her. She is often emotional, but her sadness never lasts longer than an hour. This, though..."

"I think it's best to leave her for now. Her closest friend, and, I might add, one of her crushes, who has stuck by her side for so long against so many dangerous situations, has just walked out of her life." the King sighs.

"One of her crushes?"

"Let's not forget Song Day."

"Right, that fiasco. Well that certainly makes this all the more awkward." the Queen takes in a deep breath. "She won't be able to focus on learning her magic with the boy gone."

"All the more reason to find him, dear."

"Yes, I agree."

"Star will be alright. It's heartbreak, whether or not she has a crush on him now, it's still the loss of her closest friend. That's not something to get over so quickly."

"Yes, I know."

"Making sure, dear."

"Thank you, dear, for the words." the Queen smiles slightly. "I needed to hear them."

"Of course." King Butterfly smiles. "Now, let's get to work."

"Yes, let's."

 ***Marco's Room***

Tom sits on Marco's bed, elbow on his knee and head on his hand, looking around the room at different items. There's nothing particularly notable, and he's not looking for anything in particular, but merely attempting to think of anything else at the moment.

 _"Marco, you... you selfish IDIOT! Look at what you did to Star! You MORON! AGH!"_ Tom was beyond furious at this turn of events. Star was heartbroken, refusing to get up or even eat when Tom had brought her food both last night and this morning. He knew he couldn't comfort her for something like this. Nothing he could do would be able to cheer her up. The most he could do was stay here and listen for any other possible outbursts.

 _"You weren't supposed to leave. You weren't supposed to do this to her. What is WRONG with you!?"_ Tom was shaking with anger and looked down, placing his forehead on his hands. _"You ruined everything. Star is depressed, I can't help. NOTHING will help except finding you."_

 _"And I will find you. I will see Star happy again. I dislike you for having your soul bonded to hers, dislike you due to knowing that you will eventually have her. But that doesn't mean I won't look for you. I know your importance to her. I WILL see her smile again. I will find you."_

*knock*

Tom looks up questioningly and says, "Come in."

 _"Who would this be-"_

"Star?" Star is standing there, eyes half closed and frowning, looking at Tom. Tom immediately stands up and walks to her. "Hey, you're out. Is there anything I can get for you?"

"We never..."

"Hm?"

"We never... got to watch... the movie..."

Tom looks at her strangely. _"The movie? Why would she care..."_ It then dawned on him. _"She's trying to make me not worry as much."_

"Star, no."

"But we... I..."

"Star I appreciate the gesture, thank you. But I know you don't want to watch a movie right now." Tom smiles softly at her.

Star clenches her fists and tries not to cry again. Tries, and fails. She grabs his shirt and buries her face in it as Tom hugs her close, one hand around her and the other running through her hair to calm her.

"It's... my fault..."

"It is not your fault."

"It is..."

"How could it be?"

"I..." Star chokes on her words and doesn't continue, not wanting to explain bringing Marco into her room to watch her sleep and how she thinks he left due to something related to that. She only continues to sob quietly.

"You see?" Tom says, mistaking Star's silence as her not being able to think of any reason. "You're not at fault. We will find him. I'm going to return home and check the underworld soon. He may be hiding there, as it was the last place we all went, and it's a place none would expect him to go. He may be there. Even if he isn't, I promise you we'll find him." Tom places a kiss on the top of Star's head. "Now you should go back and sleep. It's obvious you haven't slept."

Star nods slowly, and Tom walks her back to her room and lays her down on her bed. "Please rest, Star." He smiles at her. "I promise I will find him. I may also give him some good hits for making you so worried too."

Star makes a face that wasn't exactly a smile, but not a frown either. "Okay. Thank you, Tom."

Tom kisses her forehead and exits the room, closing the door behind him.

...

Star turns and curls up on her side, facing away from the door, her previous thoughts returning to her. She contemplates what she may have done. _"What happened? What did I do? Why leave... Why couldn't you tell me... My best friend is gone... He's gone and it's all my fault..."_ These thoughts plague Star as she lay there, curled up and shaking slightly, until sleep finally comes to her.

However, even her dreams wouldn't let her get away from these horrible thoughts.

* * *

So I'm not a TomStar fan, per se. But I do acknowledge that Tom seriously cares for Star, and I'm not going to have him looking like a bad guy in all this. It is saddening to me to think that they will have to have a break up at some point in the actual story, because I do like Tom, but I will still be more happy when Marco and Star get together. And to anyone who thinks they won't... _Really?_ I mean... you _really_ think they won't?

Anyway, that's this chapter. Four coming up soon. Originally three and four were one chapter before I split them due to length. So chapter 4 is already done. Feel free to review. Don't miss the shows premiering this week. Be weird. Hope you all enjoyed.


	4. Sleeping Trip

Here's chapter four, originally part of chapter three, cut in half to reduce the size. This is a bit shorter than my other chapters, but I never said chapters would all be the same length. Anyway, enjoy.

* * *

...

After several nightmares, Star is dreaming that she is flying through a world of black and white. Everywhere there were black and white lines, spinning in a vortex. There is a man and a mirror ahead. _"What a beautiful mirror_." she thinks. As she approaches the mirror, the man turns around, looks at her, and raises one hand to snap his fingers.

 _Immediately_ she snaps awake and falls onto some invisible surface. The surface was hard, but the landing did not hurt.

"Curious. It appears you can even travel to my dimension in your sleep." the man plainly states.

"Who are you?" Star asks, standing up and looking around. "Where am I?"

"I am Daqous, watcher of the worlds. You are in my domain. Your current sleeping... _condition_ , brought you here."

 _I traveled in my sleep again..."_ Star thinks to herself.

"What's that mirror?" she inquires.

"This mirror shows the most likely future based on the decisions of all beings."

"Woah..." Star looks up at the hundreds of scenes before her eyes, some happy, some sad, all focused on different people. She had determined that this man was not a threat, and so then asked, "Can it tell anyone's future?"

"Yes, though remember that the future is not guaranteed. It merely shows the most likely future."

"Can I use it?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Raise your hand out and focus it on any person. They will show up in the section of the mirror your hand is pointing to."

Star raises her hand at the bottom right corner and thinks of Marco. _"Please, tell me where Marco is. Show me where he is right now."_

That corner of the mirror's image warps and twists until it shows nothing but black and white.

"I... don't think your mirror works." Star says, disappointedly.

"You can not see beings in this dimension."

"Wha... Wait, Marco is _here_?"

"Specifically here, no." Daqous explains. "Those who enter my dimension enter their own alternate warp of this dimension. Think of it as a dimension with a room for every person that exists, and I am in all of those rooms at once."

"How do I get to Marco's room?"

"You don't."

"I have to!"

"It's not in my power."

"But-"

"I can not help you with that." Daqous raises a hand to the mirror and shifts an image somewhere in the middle. The picture warps, and to Star's surprise and horror, she sees herself laying on the ground. "Interesting, it seems entering my dimension in that, bizarre butterfly state that you did, means that you are still reflected in the mirror. Normally the decisions of those who enter my dimension no longer reflect in the future."

"T-That's me!"

"Yes, it is."

"I'm going to die?"

"As things stand, yes."

"But..."

"The future can always be changed. If you wish not to die, do not allow yourself to die."

"..."

"..."

"That's... not helpful."

"It is the truth."

"... I just want to get to Marco."

"He will leave, in his own time."

"What is he doing here?"

"He arrived here by having no destination in mind when he opened the portal, no thought of a destination at all."

"What's he _still_ doing here?" she asks suspiciously, believing Daqous was hiding something.

"I'm afraid I can not divulge what others in my dimension are doing."

"Why not?"

"Rules."

"Who made the rules?"

"A being greater than I."

"I want to see Marco."

"You will never see Marco in here. You must wait for him to leave this dimension and search for him then."

"..." Star wasn't particularly happy to hear that. "How did I get here?"

"You dreamt of Marco, and so your... _condition_ , brought you as close as you can get to him."

"Why did he leave?" Star asked, as Daqous seemed to be aware of all events, he must know why.

"I can not answer."

"Why!?"

"A request was made not to tell you."

"By who!?"

"Marco."

"He knows I'm here?"

"I mentioned to him there was a second visitor. He asked that I not tell you."

"Tell me!"

"No."

"I have to know..."

"You do not."

"..." Star looks down at the ground in frustration. "But..."

Daqous looks over at her, then looks away. "I see no reason to cry. If it comforts you, know it was nothing you did while in your butterfly form, sleeping."

Star looks at him, eyes wide. She had been so sure that had been the reason. "Then what?"

"I can not say the reason."

"Was it me?"

"It was due to an action on your part, yes."

Those words, adding on the emotionless tone of Daqous's, stab her heart like needles. She can feel actual pain in her chest, and tears come to her eyes instantly. "What did I do..."

"I can not answer."

"I knew it was me..."

"That would be evident in how he avoided you for days."

"SHUT UP!" Star screams at Daqous, tears rolling down her face.

"Very well..."

Star looks away and tries to calm herself down, trying to hold back her feelings. She needs to get more answers out of him, as many as possible.

"Sorry..." she says softly.

"..."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"..." Daqous looks at her.

"Are you not talking to me now?"

"I was asked to 'shut up'."

By instinct, due to her current emotions, she wanted to yell at Daqous for being a smart-ass, but she reeled herself back. _"He just does what's asked of him. He's not being sarcastic."_

"Could you please answer my questions?"

"As long as I am able."

"What do I have to do to find Marco after he leaves? He could go anywhere."

"That is uncertain. He could literally go anywhere, and the future can always change."

"Where does the mirror say he will most likely go when he leaves?"

"We can not see the futures of beings in my dimension until they leave. I have said this."

"When is he leaving?"

"A week in my time. Approximately 6 weeks in your dimension's time."

"Can I use this mirror to see his future when he's out?"

"Yes, if you were to stay here. Beings can only enter my dimension once."

"Can I take the mirror back with me?"

"No. Only those whose decisions are erased from the reflection of the mirror due to entering here may take a piece of the mirror. Your entrance in that butterfly form seems to have negated this effect. I can not allow you to take a piece."

"This isn't very fair."

"I am not to determine what is fair. I am to follow the rules."

"Don't you have anything that can help me!?"

"You already have what you need to find him."

"What?" Star says quietly.

"The Blood Moon tied your and Marco's souls together. Marco has already experienced this bond when he, with no prior reason to believe so, realized you were in danger the night Ludo took your spellbook. You can focus this attachment to locate him when he leaves."

"The Blood Moon..." Star remembers that night. The red light shining down on her and Marco as they danced together. "That legend is real? Our souls are bonded together?"

"Yes."

"Marco knew about this?"

"He does not know about the binding of the soul, but he was warned when you were in danger that night. He has seen the effects, though he does not know how it is they came to be."

"How come I've never seen these effects?"

"You have always known, or quickly learned afterwards, when Marco was in danger. Why warn about something already known?"

"So I can use this Blood Moon tie to find him?"

"If you channel your energy, yes."

"How?"

"I could teach you. It should not take more than an hour."

"Please. I have to learn this."

"Very well. Afterwards, I would ask you leave. You are distracting."

"Fine." Star agrees. "But, one more question."

"Hm?"

"Is Marco okay right now? Will he be okay? Will he come back?"

"That is two more questions than you said. He is hurt, emotionally, right now. Perhaps he will be okay in the future. Perhaps he will come back." Daqous answers every question all in a row.

"Can't you ask him?"

"Very well." Daqous stands still.

"..."

"..."

"... Well?"

"He has not answered yet." Daqous states simply.

"Oh..."

"..."

"..."

"He says to not worry about him."

"That's not a good enough answer."

"He has also asked me to stop allowing you to talk through me to him."

"..."

"..."

 _"When I learn how to find Marco... I'm going to throw him into the nearest wall. Right after I find out why he left."_

"Then you'd best learn this well." Daqous says.

 _"What, he can read my-... No, that really doesn't surprise me."_ Something about Daqous just radiated power.

"Let us begin." Daqous says.

"Yes." Star replies.

 _"You can't just leave me Marco. Not like you did. Not like that. I will find you."_

* * *

There's that. Feel free to review. Enjoy the upcoming episodes of the real SVTFOE. I know I'm looking forward to it. Have a good day/night. See ya.


	5. Surprise

Chapter five. A whole lot of Star thinking, and some other... premonition stuff. Sorry if you find me delving deeper into character thoughts boring. I love trying to think what and how character's would think. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

...

...

*knock knock*

Star bolts awake. Disoriented, she looks around, realizing she's in her room. She vividly remembers her dream. Or, trip, rather. Daqous, Marco, the Blood Moon, the mirror. The small training she'd asked of Daqous.

 _"Can I still do it?"_ she wonders worriedly. As she closes her eyes in an attempt to call on the tie between Marco and her soul, her focus is disrupted.

*knock knock*

"Uh, yes?" Star asks aloud. "Come in."

The door opens and her mother steps in. "Hello, dear." the Queen says softly. "How are you feeling?"

"How long was I asleep?" Star asks, purposefully ignoring the question.

"Roughly twelve hours. I was glad to hear from Mr. Lucitor that you were resting. You hadn't slept the night before at all." Queen Butterfly moves forward and sits on the bed beside Star.

"Where is Tom?" Star asks.

"He left. He volunteered to go out and try to find information on where Marco could be."

"But... he just left without saying good bye?" Star looked less than content. Not that she was content to begin with, but...

"He said seeing you hurt like this was painful, and he wants to find Marco immediately to help you. And he didn't want to wake you while you were sleeping. He did say that you could call him at any time." The Queen looks her daughter in the eyes. "We will find your friend, dear."

"Yeah..." Star looks down at her hands.

"Well then... come down for breakfast when you're ready." Queen Butterfly kisses Stars forehead and moves toward the door.

"Im sorry, mom."

"Hm?" the Queen looks back at Star. "What for?"

"This... whole thing." Star waves a hand meaninglessly. "You sending some people to find information on... Marco. I'm sure you have other things to do."

"I have many things to do. Making sure my daughter is okay is at the top of that list." Queen Butterfly smiles at her. "I know what Marco means to you. I personally feel that we owe him for all he's done for Mewni. What he's done for you."

"Okay..." Star continues looking at her hands.

"Please come down to eat when you feel better. You need to eat something." the Queen says.

"Yes mother..." says Star quietly.

After shutting the door, Queen Butterfly shakes her head and sighs. _"I had meant to ask what Marco really meant to her. If he was her best friend, or if she still has that crush on him. But how can I ask that right now? Silly, stupid idea."_

As soon as her mother leaves, Star tries to focus again, the way Daqous had taught her. Daqous was a fast teacher. She was amazed how easily he described the complex concept of channeling her energy. She could feel it now, the pull towards Marco. It seemed to pull in every direction, but she had known that would happen. Daqous had told her:

 _'Using this while Marco is in my dimension will result in little progress. As I've said, you will only be able to locate him once he is out.'_

"Six weeks huh..." Star feels a slight twinge of guilt at not telling her mother she could now locate Marco. It meant the few knights, and Tom, searching six weeks for nothing because Marco was currently unfindable. But she couldn't tell her mother for fear of having to explain how she had gotten to that dimension, by sleeping walking/flying through dimensions... She couldn't tell anyone else about that.

She looks to the calendar on her wall to make sure they was nothing particularly big coming up. In six weeks there was a scheduled archery contest between Mewni's and some other nearby kingdom's knights. The immediate royal family of the competing kingdoms all had to be there to watch.

 _"But right after that... I'm going to find him. Hit him, hug him, tell him he's a jerk, yell at him, kiss him, throw- wha-what?"_ Star brings a hand up to her head. _"Not kiss him! Why would I think that? I'm just... very emotional right now... I..."_

 _"... And then I'm dragging him right back here and chaining him to his bed if need be. Until he tells me what his problem is."_

It was that simple. He couldn't just leave like that. _"Not after all we've been through. You're not allowed to drop in on my life again and walk back out. That's not fair."_

Looking back down at her hands, she loses herself in thought again. Thinking back to what Daqous had said:

 _'If it comforts you, know it was nothing you did while in your butterfly form, sleeping...'_

 _'... It was due to an action on your part, yes...'_

 _'... That would be evident in how he avoided you for days.'_

 _"What happened only a few days ago that would have caused this? I asked Marco to watch me sleep to find out why I'm traveling through dimensions, then told him to stop. Kelly, Marco, Tom and I all went to the underworld to hang out after that... Would Kelly know?"_ Star looks at her mirror. _"Marco did go with her and they were gone during the soulrise. After that Marco was very restless the next day. And then... he just didn't really talk to me..."_

Star looks back at the calendar to get visual picture of the number of days that had passed since his weird behavior started. On the day after they had all gone to the underworld, she had something written and circled, but couldn't read it from her bed. She got up and walked over to read it.

Marco's birthday.

Star only stands there, stunned, staring at the text. _"I... I didn't... I forgot... his birthday..."_ Star puts both hands on here head and looks down. _"How could I not... How did I forget... Is that why he..."_

 _"No."_ Star shakes her head. _"That's not why Marco would have left. Be upset, maybe, but not leave. It probably hadn't helped though... How could I forget his birthday? And I don't think anyone else here knew about his birthday. Did anyone wish him a happy birthday?"_

Despite knowing that Marco would not leave over something like this, it was a big deal to Star. _"I'd completely forgotten my best friend's birthday. How could I have forgotten that?... He must have just felt alone that day."_ And then Star had a new realization. _"Has he been lonely here? I haven't hung out with him without bringing Tom, and when I bring Tom, I... really just focus on him, I guess... When we are alone together, it's usually me asking Marco to do something for me, like watch me sleeping..."_

Star frowns and stares intently at the calendar. _"I guess I haven't really hung out with him at all... And he doesn't have many other friends in the castle..."_

 _"He did come here to hang out with me... And... Not having anyone to talk to or anything... That would be a reason to leave..."_

 ***Meanwhile***

A figure emerges from the trees of a forest near Mewni Castle.

"A contest, hm? How interesting. And this... Daqous. How peculiar." the figure says plainly.

 _"So, the princess is supposed to die? Well, I shall be sure that comes true."_ the figure thinks to himself. _"Perhaps this curse has some benefits. To be able to hear the princess's thoughts... There is no better way to make a plan for revenge. Ever since the accursed princess had defeated me, I've been hearing her thoughts in my head. Surely a result of having been in her wand, in her magic. What stupid, silly thoughts. Enough to drive me mad, if I were of a lesser intellect."_

The figure looks down at his hand, his arm, his body, all horrible messes of glossy black due to his body melting. But immortality doesn't die in the face of sheer power. The melting skin had hardened, giving him the look of a horrific, black, deformed monster.

 _"That spell was powerful, to be sure. But it lacked the ability to kill an immortal. My body died, yes, but I still live on, in this disgusting, dead husk."_

 _"I will have revenge."_

 _"I will end these pervasive thoughts from the princess."_

 _"I will watch her die, and enjoy every moment of it."_

 _"Or my name is not Toffee."_

 _"..."_

 _"The boy is gone for now. It would seem the opportune time to strike would be at this contest. I can infiltrate quite easily then. Then, I shall make a plan. By six weeks time, that princess will be gone, for good."_

 _..._

"Gah! I don't care about that boy's birthday! Rgh... I can't wait to be done with these thoughts." With that Toffee turns around and re-enters the forest.

 ***Star's room***

Star was feeling worse and worse about this as she thought about it, but couldn't stop herself.

"But... the problem with that is, he could've easily talked to me about that." Star whispers quietly to herself. "There's something else..."

 _"Something else. Maybe related to my lack of attention toward him, maybe not. But this isn't the full answer."_

"... I guess I'll just have to drag the truth out of him when I see him again." she whispers. She looks back at the mirror.

 _"I should ask Kelly if she knows anything."_

Star walks up to the mirror and attempts to contact Kelly.

...

...

...

...

"Hel- Star!" Kelly appears in the mirror's reflection, her face beaming upon seeing Star. "How are you? I heard you... weren't feeling well..."

"How did you hear that?" Star questions. Surely not everyone knew about this, right? If her outburst was public knowledge, it certainly would have damaged her reputation... Not that that was foremost on her mind.

"Tom called me earlier, asking about Marco. He explained it to me."

"I see..." Star drops off. _"I guess Tom was really serious about finding Marco for me."_ The thought made her smile just a bit.

"What's up?" Kelly interrupts Star's thoughts.

"Oh, I uh... I was wondering if you knew anything about Marco's behavior since the day we all went to the underworld. He hadn't been acting right since that day and I think it hasn't something to do with why he... why he's gone." Star really couldn't bring herself to say 'He left.'

"Oh... well... I uhm..."

 _"She knows something."_ "What happened when he left that day, do you know?" Star inquires.

"Well, he helped me and Tad get through our whole break up thing..." Kelly starts. "He uh... He ran away from Tad after he talked to him and I don't know where he went then, but when I saw him again he was sitting against a rock and... depressed."

"Do you know what happened?"

"Uh... I think he... maybe just felt lonely..." Kelly was purposefully avoiding telling Star about Marco's feelings. It wasn't her place to say. "So I took him up to see the soulrise and he did cheer up a bit, and I wished him a happy birthday, and-"

"You knew it was his birthday?" Star asks.

"He mentioned it so I just said happy birthday."

 _"Someone who didn't even know when his birthday was got to say happy birthday. Nice going, Star"_ Star thought to herself. "Okay uhm... and then?"

"I just tried comforting him, he seemed a bit cheerier, but not great by the time we got back to you guys." Kelly shrugs and looks down.

"Did he say what's wrong?"

"Nope."

"Do you know anything else about maybe what happened to him?" Star asks again.

"I, uhm... Like I said, I think he was just lonely. So I just tried helping him wi-"

"Tell me."

"Uh, I... what?" Kelly looks at her oddly. "I've told you what happened."

"You know something else."

"I... Look, I just found him sitting alone on the beach after he had run off, he wasn't by the rock the first time I checked, so he ran somewhere then to the rock. I don't know where he went or what upset him" Kelly's tone is starting to get slightly angrier as Star's accusations start irritating her.

 _"I can take a really good guess what made him so upset though."_ Kelly thinks to herself. _"Not that hard to figure out."_

"What else?" Star isn't put off by the anger she can hear from Kelly. "It's so clear you know something else."

"I told you what happened!"

"Everything?"

"That's... everything that happened." Technically not a lie, that was all what happened.

"Then tell me, right now, that there isn't anything else you know about this."

"Star, I already told-"

"Say it."

"I just-"

"Say it!"

"I... I-"

"Now!"

"You want to know what's wrong!?" Kelly snapped, absolutely tired of being cut off and attacked when she hadn't done anything wrong. "You want to know what I'm sure set him off so much!? He has a crush on you now!" Star's eyes widen and she freezes up, unable to retort, as Kelly continues to rant. "Why do you think he up and left his life on Earth? His family, friends, home? Because he wanted to be with you! Because even though he may not have realized it at the time, he had a crush on you waaaay before he started dating Jackie. It was so obvious! When I saw the situation in the underworld, I thought 'Wow that's cruel irony', because it was you before when he was with Jackie. But do you want to know the slight difference between the two situations?"

"Uh I..." Star couldn't think of any response, could barely think straight at all. She could only listen to Kelly slam all this information on her.

"The difference is he made plenty of time for you, to hang out with you even when he was with Jackie. You haven't even come close to doing that!"

 _"I was trying to get over my crush on Marco... I..."_ Star wanted to say, but she couldn't, still too stunned at what she was hearing.

"And then you wonder why he was depressed, why he hasn't been talking to you for a while? But did you go talk to him about it before he left? No, you never did. Not until it was too late. And why would he want to tell you this? Ruin your relationship with Tom? Make everything even more awkward?" Kelly finally calmed down and spoke in a normal, though very cold voice. "Do you want to know what he told me that night during the soulrise? He said 'I love seeing Star happy, even if it's not with me. But like this, since I don't seem to be noticed by her right now, and I can't hide my feelings, I'd be more of a liability to her happiness.' And you know-" Kelly stopped and seemed to finally realize what all she had said. "I... Oh I wasn't supposed to... No you weren't supposed to hear... like this..." Kelly looked horrified and she quickly cut the connection, leaving the princess staring at her own wide-eyed, stunned face.

 _"I... He..."_ Star falls onto her knees and sits back on her feet, unable to even form a coherent thought. _"He... But... I..."_

* * *

Surprise, Star! Hope you all enjoyed. Feel free to review. Thank you for reading.


	6. Black and White

Chapter Six! Mostly just giving insight on what's all going on during the whole six weeks. Enjoy!

* * *

 _ ****About three weeks later (23 days until Star's death.)****_

Tom enters the Mewni castle throne room. As soon as he closes the doors, he has the eyes of both the King and Queen on him.

"Did you manage to find anything?" the Queen asks.

"No, Queen Butterfly. He does not appear to be in the underworld, nor could I find any hint as to where he's gone." Tom's eyes dart to the side as he says this, feeling as though he's failed.

"The same as the other knights, then..." Queen Butterfly smiles lightly. "Do not be so hard on yourself. I know you've been working hard to help."

Tom takes a deep breath. "How is Star?"

"Has she not been calling you?" the Queen asks.

"She has, but I want to hear how she's doing from someone who's been watching her." Tom explains. "She always just says 'I'm okay' to me, which is not true."

"She has been walking around and interacting with people. She smiles, though not quite as widely as she used to." The Queen sighs. "She's strangely very focused in the her magic spellbook recently, and it has me worried she may be planning to do something drastic to find the boy."

"Can I see her?"

"Yes, Mr. Lucitor. She should be in her room." the Queen replies.

"Thank you." Tom turns and makes his way out of the room.

"Door stays open!" the King yells after him.

"Yes, King Butterfly." Tom hollers in reply as he turns the corner.

The Queen simply smiles amusedly at her husband.

Tom makes his way through the halls and up the stairs. On the way by, he stops at Marco's room, and peeks in. There are things thrown about and drawers opened. The room is much messier than the state it was in when Tom had left the castle three weeks ago.

He then makes his way up the final set of stairs and knocks on Star's bedroom door.

"Come in."

He opens the door and looks around the room.

The room was different than normal. Papers were strewn about all over her desk and bed. Books lay open across the room. Star, laying stomach down on her bed with her spellbook open in front of her, is looking up at him. "Tom? Tom!"

"Hey Star. I'm ba-" Tom ducks as a blast of magic flies toward him. "What was that for?"

"For leaving without saying goodbye." Star says simply.

"Sorry, Star... I thought I made up for that on our first phone call."

"Nope. Jerk." she says with a light smile as she puts her wand back down and returns to reading her spellbook. Tom walks over to her, kisses her cheek, to which she hums lightly, and sits down next to her on the side of her bed.

"What's all this?" Tom waves his hands around the room to emphasize 'this'.

"Just reading." Star says as he looks at some of the papers. Each paper lists of different dimensions and pictures of each dimension.

"Uhm, Star?"

"Yes?"

"You're not... thinking of looking at each of these dimensions, are you?"

"That's ridiculous."

"Yes, it is, because there are thousands of them. So tell me you aren't going to try." Tom looks straight at her.

Star stops reading her spellbook and looks over here shoulder back at him and smiles. "I'm not going to go to all these places, Tom."

"Good." he replies. He notices one section papers of on their own and walks over to them. He picks up the book and some papers and reads them.

"Uh, Star?"

"Tom?"

"Why are you looking into Daqous?"

Star's attention is immediately all on Tom. "You know about Daqous?"

"Well, myths. He's a mythical legend sort of being. It's a rare myth only really spoken about in the underworld."

"What are the myths?"

Tom looks questioningly at her. "Well, it's said he was the child of a female Mewman and male non-Mewman. Some accounts say the male was a monster, some say a human. That's unclear. But according to legend he was born without emotion." Tom moves over to sit back down on the bed, book and papers in his lap. "A deity was said to have taken a liking to Daqous's perfect, unbiased judgment, and tasked him to watch the world and make sure that it followed it's natural course. Daqous was given ultimate power of Light and Darkness to ensure he could handle any situation."

"Oh, that's kinda cool." Star says, thinking back to her meeting with Daqous. _"Yep, I could believe all that."_

"However," Tom continues. "Daqous saw no reason that fate should be decided by Gods. It's said he shattered the 'correct path for the future' and gave mortals the power to decide the future. He then created a plate from the ground that allowed him to view the future. In retaliation, the deity that gave him his powers banished him to an unknown dimension and commanded him to never interact with anything outside of his dimension. Daqous did not argue with the punishment. Using the plate he created, he watches the future from his dimension."

 _"Plate... The mirror..."_ Star thinks to herself. "That's a bit cruel. Trapping him for giving mortals choices?"

"Well, Gods in mythology disliked when mortals went against their ways." Tom chuckles.

"Hm..." Star looks back down in her spellbook and continues reading.

"Star?"

"Yes?"

"What is all this stuff for?"

"I'm just studying it."

"Star."

"What?"

"You just suddenly became interested in studying other dimensions and myths?"

"..."

Tom tilts his head and looks at her. "What are you planning?"

"I just... thought it'd be nice to have the information in case we hear he's in a dimension we haven't heard of."

"Really?" Tom asks doubtfully.

Star buries her head in her spellbook. _"Do I tell him?"_

"Star."

Star raises her head and looks back at him with a hurt look on her face. "I just need to be able to do something to help while I'm here. This is all I can do..."

Tom looked at her face and instantly regretted being so skeptical. "I'm sorry, Star. I didn't mean to... make you feel bad... I'm just looking out for you."

"I know, Tom. Thank you." She smiles widely at him, and Tom's heart flips at the sight.

"Well, I'll leave you to your stuff." Tom leans forward and kisses Star quickly, after which Star sits up and hugs him. He then hops off the bed. "Call me if you need anything."

"I will, thank you Tom." Star waves good bye to him as he leaves and closes the door.

"..."

Star buries her face in her pillow. _"I just lied to him. And faked being hurt to get him to stop digging_." Star groans at the thought.

 _"But how on earth could I talk to him about the Blood Moon and not make it awkward between us?"_

Star lays back down and kept reading her spellbook. _"I'm just listing all these dimensions so that when the I locate Marco with our Blood Moon tie, I'll know where to go to find the place I'm tracking him to. But talking to Tom about the Blood Moon would probably... not be a great idea._

 _"Especially reminding Tom that her and Marco's souls were linked."_

"..."

What Kelly had said was still stuck in her mind even now:

 _'You want to know what I'm sure set him off so much!? He has a crush on you now!'_

Star had spent the rest of that day after the call with Kelly pacing around her room, thinking back to the awkward moments with Marco, his behavior, and it did all add up.

 _"He left because of me."_

 _"How did I not notice?"_

 _"What does this mean?"_

 _"If that's true, how can I ask him to come back? That's so selfish of me to ask."_

 _"I can't... I can't force him to stay here."_

And of course, the question Star refused to acknowledge that she'd thought about, but had thought about many times since:

 _"Do I still like him?"_

 _"..."_

 _"I have to at least apologize. I have to find him and apologize."_

 _"And then... if he doesn't want to stay..."_

 _"..."_

 _"Let's find him first, and worry about that later."_

And so she started listing out as many dimensions as she could, determined to find him as soon as he left Daqous's dimension.

 _"I have to hear this from him. I have to hear him say it. And I have to apologize. And then if he leaves..."_

Star shook her head.

 _"Find him first. A bit more than three weeks to get as many dimensions listed as possible and learn any spells that could help me get around these dimensions."_

 _"Three weeks..."_

 ***Meanwhile***

"Well, just three days left. For a member of a race with no recent magical history, I will admit to being surprised at your progress."

While the tone of Daqous's voice was dead neutral, Marco still feels accomplished upon hearing the praise.

"All the same, you will need to train just as hard the next three days if you want any reasonable amount of power behind your magic. You will also need to train on accuracy. Your aim is good, but as a member of a race where magic is extinct, your capacity to hold energy is mediocre at best. You will not cast many spells before draining yourself, so each spell must count."

Marco just nods.

"That said, each of your spells has the capacity to be _lethal_. You may not have many shots, but the first hit you land should win nearly any battle. If you are not wishing to kill the enemy, then watch the amount of power you use as well as your aim even more closely, as a high power hit to the heart and head _will_ kill, unlike much of the magic you've seen from the princess."

"Got it." Marco replies.

"Finally, after our training is done here, practice on your own. Create new uses for the spells. Light magic, such as the magic from the wand the princess uses, tends to be inflexible, and the uses for each spell specific. Dark magic is much more flexible, allowing for more creative uses, both in and out of battle. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Then rest. Be ready for tomorrow."

"Okay."

Marco lays back and takes a huge breath. _"Three days."_

 _"Three days..."_

 _"..."_

"Daqous?"

"Yes?"

"What did you think about me leaving Star?"

"I think nothing of it."

"You must have an opinion."

"No emotions means I have no opinion. Please self-reflect on your own regrets by yourself, I can add nothing to your mental debate."

"I'm not regretting my choice."

"If you are asking me my opinion, you _do_ regret your choice."

"..."

"Anything else?"

"..."

"I suggest you learn to keep those emotions in check if your goal is to not hurt the princess."

"When you have emotions, they sometimes just come out. You can't always control them." Marco defends himself. "Especially..."

"Especially?"

"... love..."

"Is that not what causes some beings to commit to stupid actions?"

"..." Marco had a sneaking suspicion Daqous was talking about him.

"I know not of friendship, but a common rule I've seen amongst beings who are close friends is that you should always be there for your friend." Daqous continues.

"..."

"Is this not correct?" Daqous asks.

"That's right."

"And yet you left."

"I was hurt."

"You still left, and hurt her in return. Justice?"

"I... She can get along without me." Marco states.

"She can."

"It will be better without me there. Easier for her in the long run."

"Perhaps."

"Then what are you getting at?" Marco asks.

"Who is it you are angry at?"

"Who?... Me I guess..."

"Why? Star was the one who confessed to you before leaving. She was also the one who was limiting time between you two on Mewni and making you extremely lonely."

"It's my fault for not realizing her feelings sooner... Or mine..."

"So why take it out on her?"

"I didn't leave to hurt her. I left to protect her. If she'd found out, she'd be hurt as long as I was there. Now that I left, she'll hurt for a while, but she'll move on." (Marco is unaware that Star already knows due to Kelly)

"What if she doesn't?"

"What if she... doesn't move on?"

"Correct."

"Uhm... I don't know."

"Then she remains hurt that her best friend left her without telling her why." Daqous states. "What if she and Tom split up then? Now she's out a best friend and boyfriend."

"And if I had told her?"

"Then it would be awkward for a while, but I imagine that being best friends, you'd move on from that."

"I'd still have to watch them be together. I'd still be hurt."

"You need to decide whether you care more about you being hurt or her being hurt." Daqous raises a hand to the mirror.

"I picked the choice that in the long term will help us both. By now, it's been, what, three weeks there? She should be getting along with her life by this point."

"That is about as far from the truth as you could be. Would you like to see what Star has recently done?"

 _"Recently? The mirror can view the past too?"_ Marco looks at the mirror as an image of Star comes up. Star is shuffling through Marco's room, pulling open drawers and looking through his closet. After searching through every inch of the room, she walks out with four items in her hands.

1\. A small red notebook. _"That's where I wrote down all my adventures while I was chasing Hekapoo."_

2\. A book Star had given Marco when he had gotten his scissors that had many different dimensions listed in it. _"She gave me that so we could use my scissor to go to all the places in the book."_

3\. A small journal. _"That's where I wrote all my adventures with Star."_

4\. A handful of pictures of their adventures together that Marco'd had lying on the dresser. _"..."_

"Why did she take those books?" Marco asks aloud, as the scene changes to Star's room, with Star scrambling around. Her room was a mess of papers and book. She was looking through his red notebook and making notes. A list of different dimensions, it looked like.

 _"Why is she...?"_ Marco wonders. _"It's very unlike Star to do research into anything."_

"So that she can find you." Daqous says plainly.

"What? But..." Marco starts. _"There's way too many dimensions."_

"She has the ability to track you now."

"How?"

"I taught it to her."

"What? Why?"

"She asked me to, when she was here." Daqous says evenly.

"I..."

"So, remind me again, when does she get over you leaving? She asked to learn the ability to track your location wherever you go. That doesn't seem to be moving on."

"..."

"Well?"

"Eventually she will move on."

"In my honest judgment, as I always tend to give, you would have hurt her far less by simply telling her."

 _"Star, what the hell? Don't you have other things to do? Tom? Learning your magic? Learning to become queen? What are you doing?"_ Marco thinks to himself.

"It would seem she's decided what her priorities are." Daqous says, answering Marco's mental questions.

"She has more important things to be doing than looking for me."

"What was it I asked earlier? Is it not love that causes mortals to commit to stupid actions?"

"..."

"The points that I am trying to make: One. Your own anger at yourself is what made you leave. It was your own mistakes that led to this, and it's being taken out on Star, and has hurt her. under the presumption that she would be better without you and that you are protecting her, neither of which seem to be true."

"..."

"Two. While I am a being that does not feel, I do understand emotion. The one consistent rule I have seen about love is that it breaks all obstacles. A ridiculous belief for a being such as me, who can not feel love, yes I know. But I have seen it time and time and time again. Love can make mortals complete idiots. It can make them do ridiculous things, such as leaving a best friend."

"..."

"But it is also what drives mortals more than anything. It makes them willing to give anything to protect others. Willing to put down everything to help. It is a feeling that, while I do not feel, I am interested in because of some of the amazing things I see mortals do with it. Love, whether an incredibly close friendship or a deep love, works through anything if you allow it."

"..."

"So, as I said, you will need to work on those emotions if you wish to stay friends with the princess."

"I... I don't want to stay. I left."

"You may be able to lie to yourself, however, you can not lie to me."

"I... Not everything is black and white. There's gray too, you know."

"In my eyes, as I only see matters in white and black, you failed to follow what seems to have been established as basic friendship rules." Daqous explained. "You did not confide in her on a very important topic on your mind, and you allowed the result of your own anger to hurt her. Most importantly, the most basic rule of friendship, you are not there for her when she needs you."

Marco remains silent. Daqous turns around.

"Every choice is black and white. The outcomes may not be black or white, it may not be a good choice and bad choice, but in my eyes, every choice is either correct or incorrect given a situation. And in my eyes, you choose incorrectly by not following what mortals have established as rules of friendship. I am a man of rules. Either you followed them, or you didn't. In your case, you didn't."

"..."

"Rest, now."

"..."

Marco lays back and ponders on what Daqous has said as he slowly drifts into sleep.

* * *

And that's it. Thanks for reading!


	7. Return

**Chapter seven! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I hope you all enjoy reading! Oh, and be aware, Daqous is watching you.**

* * *

 ***Three days later, Daqous's time (two Mewni days until Star's death)***

Daqous looks at Marco's performance and nods his head. "Not a single spell missed me. Of course, most adversaries will be harder to hit, as they will not move in set patterns. Impressive nonetheless. You know the basic skills of Dark magic. Remember that. The _basic_ skills. There is much more that you can learn in time."

Marco nods, exhausted from the effort of his last bit of training. "What time is it on Mewni?"

"Nearly six in the evening. You have nearly 42 hours before the event you are trying to prevent. Here, in this dimension's time, that would be 7 hours. I recommend you spend the time resting. I can wake you before time runs out. In addition..." Daqous moves over to the mirror and places a hand on it. His fingers slowly sink into the reflection, and as he pulls his arm back, the piece of the mirror in his fingers comes out. The indent left in the mirror is quickly filled in by new reflective material seemingly out of nowhere. In mere seconds the mirror looked perfect again, even as Daqous held a piece of it in his hand.

"That is one cool mirror." Marco says.

The mirror piece shines a gold color and a gold framing covers the non-reflective back of the piece. Daqous is now holding a gold-framed mirror that is small enough to fit in Marco's pocket. "This mirror has the same effect as mine." He explains. "There are some catches. No one else looking into this mirror will be able to use it. To them it is simply a mirror. In addition, you must not tell anyone who has not traveled to this dimension the true nature of this mirror, or it will shatter. Otherwise, it is unbreakable." To prove that point, Daqous drops the mirror and it hits the surface below him. Marco picks it up and see there is no crack at all on the mirror, no damage to the framing.

"Got it." Marco nods.

"Then take this with you. Rest, now. You should recover your energy."

"I will."

 _"It's been six weeks there, huh? Six weeks since the day I left, but for me, only a week... Strange to think about, like when I traveled for 16 years chasing Hekapoo and came back to my world to see only a handful of minutes had passed. Not as drastic, but..."_

Marco lays back and thinks back to that time, Star telling him he'd only been gone a few minutes... and making the decision to head back with Star.

 _"Star..."_ Marco missed simpler times with Star, when they had crazy adventures all over the place, always laughing it off afterwards. _"Those times are gone. She has things to do in Mewni now... Lots of work..."_

 _"And I've only added to her stress..."_

Daqous's talk with him had stuck with him, and for the last three days he's been debating what he'll do after he makes sure Star stays alive.

 _"I guess I'll leave that up to her..."_

Marco sleeps for his last time in this dimension.

...

Daqous looks at the boy, now deep asleep. _"Interesting child. Emotions of other beings are simply fascinating. It is the opposite of everything that I am. I am logic, I am simple, I am truth. There is nothing beyond that. But these beings, always so complex, so complicated. All due to emotion. It shall be interesting to see what this boy's emotions bring next."_

Daqous takes some time and goes over his training with Marco over the past 6 days. _"Not a single complaint despite the difficult process of learning to use naturally produced magic over the training period. Difficulty is no trial for him when his priority is to protect the princess. A respectable trait."_ Daqous was loyal to his own beliefs, that all beings should decide their own future.

Looking at the mirror, he looks upon Star's future that was only a mere handful of hours (in his dimension) away. There she lay, on a hill covered in grass, multiple slashes through her chest, her parents and boyfriend looking down at her, horrified, all crying. In the distance, unseen by those three, three other figures walking away.

 _"Not the worst place to die."_ Daqous thinks, looking at the scenery. A grassy hill with Mewni castle and a forest in the background. _"I have seen far worse deaths. Hm... It appears her future did change slightly. Perhaps the boyfriend decides to accompany her, as well as her parents? Interesting._ Daqous could simply rewind and see how this came to be, but why? Knowing and not knowing didn't matter to one who only watches and does not interact. _Of course, Marco's actions are not reflected here. It should be interesting to see if this boy is able to stop this."_

 _"And if she lives, what then? The ever-so-intriguing question. The one I am curious to find out the answer to. The question Marco can't figure out. The question any of the readers are wanting answered."_ Daqous turns and faces you. _"Could you not spy on me? I have no answers for you. Besides, you have broken the rule that a being may only enter my dimension once. Away with you."_

 ***Meanwhile (since we were kicked out)***

Star enters her room after eating and being outside with her family to inspect the field to be used for the archery contest the day after tomorrow. Tom was at his home in the underworld, preparing to make a trip up on the day of the contest. Immediately after shutting her door, she leans against it and begins to channel energy into locating Marco.

A pull in all directions. Star sighs. _"I guess I didn't ask if six weeks meant_ exactly _six weeks, or six weeks_ give or take _."_ Star plops down on her bed.

Regardless, it was almost time! Almost time to put this power she'd gotten into use! Almost time to find him... She was confident in her knowledge of many of the dimensions that were known.

 _'If you use your scissors while tracking him, the destination in your head will be over-written by where Marco is, even if you have no thoughts of that place, and the scissors will respond by opening a portal to that location.'_

What Daqous had said came to her mind, and she realized this soul link really was powerful. To be able to override her thoughts to make a portal to the location of what she was linked to instead, maybe a place she'd never even heard of... That's no ordinary power.

Star stuffed her face into the pillow and couldn't help giving a small smile. _"Why am I even smiling? I still haven't seen him. Even when I find him, he may still not... may not return... There's no reason to smile..."_ She smiled regardless. Just the thought of having a chance to talk to Marco and maybe work things out, it made her so happy after these past six weeks.

Still angry, oh, very angry at him. She was definitely going to give him an earful when she found him.

Star looks up and sees a large globe of Earth, the latest victim of her sleep-wandering. She didn't even know where she'd taken this from. She shakes head her and lays back down, trying to sleep.

She dreamt she was flying high, and below her she could Marco's house on Earth. Continuing on, she flew down and went right by the school she'd attended on Earth, strangely, covered in a purple mess. Looking around and keeping out of sight, Star looks to the left and sees Marco walking down the hall, looking around himself in horror. As he keeps walking, a hand from a boy trapped in a nearby locker grabs him, asking Marco to get him and other people trapped in there out. An eerily familiar purple humanoid with wings and six arms then arrives, whom Marco calls 'Star'. She throws another boy in a locker and traps him. As Marco confronts her, the purple humanoid pins Marco to the wall with a web of purple hearts. Purple 'Star' then flies up, seeing Oscar and gunning for him, to be stopped by Marco, who is using a net.

Without any thought into what she was doing, Star flew straight into the sky, stopping in a random space in the sky, waiting. Thirty or so seconds later, the purple 'Star' flies up with Oscar's car in tow. As she passes Star, Star reaches her finger out and touches 'Star's' forehead. 'Star' stops and freezes, skin turning from purple to a normal color.

Star says one word to 'Star'. "Wrong."

'Star' drops the car, and transforms before falling back down to Earth.

Star, then, with one of the thousands of purple hearts around the school in her hand, flies away.

And Star wakes up.

She immediately sits up and shakes her head. _"Did I just... was that... the past?... That had to have been a real dream, there's no way I-"_

Star looks back at her pillow and her eyes widen. A small, purple heart.

 _"It wasn't a dream... What was that? I really traveled to the past? How is that even possible? And... Was I the person who stopped myself back then? Why did say 'wrong' to past me? I don't understand what any of that was!"_

Star looks at a clock propped up on her desk. 6:43 am. She tries locating Marco again, to no avail. Star then recalls seeing her death in the mirror in Daqous's dimension. She hadn't actually asked when that was supposed to happen, but she hadn't looked much older in the scene. _"That should worry me, but I don't see why I should worry. I'm sure that mirror showed plenty of times I should've died during my adventures. I don't even know anything about it. No point worrying about it..."_

Star groans. _"And now there's that stupid archery contest I don't care about tomorrow."_ The contest would only last from 10:00 to 11:30 tomorrow morning, and she only had to stay an extra half hour and join the other kingdom's royalty and knights in the celebration afterward at the town square, instead of the full three hours the celebration would last. But she wanted to try locating Marco at every opportunity because he could be leaving any moment soon, and two hours was just too loooong.

Star looks outside and sees knights and a chariot arriving at the castle gates. _"Ah, right, some of the royalty is coming today. Woo-hoo."_ Star thinks sarcastically. She didn't know anyone from the kingdoms attending, so she was extremely uninterested in this.

 _"Well, I should head downstairs and see Tom and mom and dad."_ Star steps out of her room and heads downstairs.

...

As the group of knights walking around the chariot make their way through the castle gates, one looks up at the castle, the knight's helmet hiding a very confident smile.

"Mewni Castle. Hmhm. It's not nice to think poorly of your guests, princess. Especially those who have been here before. I'm back, and I'm coming for you."

* * *

Oh, you thought the chapter's title was for Marco? Hehe, not quite yet. Thanks for reading, feel free to review. The usual. Have a good one!


	8. Betrayal

Chapter eight! Enjoy!

Oh yes, I will likely no longer be uploading 2-3 chapters a day, but will still be updating quite frequently.

* * *

 ***The next day***

Star was sitting beside her parents, trying her absolute best to not tap her foot or rest her head on her hands. The archery contest had only started a half hour ago and she was growing impatient. _"How can anyone be interested in watching people shoot a bow? Ooooh, he almost hit the center, whoop-de-doo."_ Star thinks to herself, her light smile completely hiding her thoughts from anyone looking at her.

 _Almost_ anyone...

As the contest dragged on, Star did notice Tom in the crowd to the right. Tom waved and smiled at her, and she smiled back. He had come all the way from the underworld to this contest to see her and make sure she didn't die of boredom afterwards and she was grateful to him for that. Too bad he couldn't help right now.

The contest went by slowly. There was a clock placed awkwardly to the left of the field that Star could only see out of the corner of her eyes without making it obvious to everyone in attendance that she was tired of watching this. 10:33. Only three minutes since she'd last looked. _"Nooo, I'm going to die watching this..."_ she thinks.

She'd been feeling more on edge and antsy since her dream about going to the past, but strangely just last night she'd had no dream. Honestly, having no dream frightened her. She could still be dimension-hopping and now have no clue what she's doing in the time she's gone. Maybe it had stopped, but she couldn't know for sure. Not to mention she'd felt this very slight, but still noticeable... thing. She didn't know how to describe it exactly, like a slight push for something. A push for what? She had no clue.

Also, she really needed to try locating Marco again. He could be out at _any_ second.

So Star sits there, pretending to be paying attention to the contest with a kind smile on her face, but instead running all these thoughts through her head. She glances at the clock again.

10:35.

 _"I should stop looking at that."_ Star thinks, resolving to not look at the clock again until the contest was over. Until the next time she checked. And the next time. And the next...

...

And then, _finally_ , the miraculous numbers, 11:30. The winners of the contest had been announced, some kingdom who'd brought some rather large knights had won, each of their three competing knights of that kingdom landing either a bullseye or the next ring out.

And soon after, they were all released for the celebration. Celebrating the kingdoms' years of alliances and something or other. Star immediately, or as close to immediately as she could without appearing too rude, bolts away. She wanted to head to her room but there was construction work blocking the hallway to her room until 1:00-ish. She instead heads out to the fields in the back of the castle, both wanting to not remember the boring contest and looking for a peaceful place away from everyone to try to locate Marco. The 'backyard' fields behind the castle were all sealed off by a large fence, and the only way in was a passcode at the gate connecting the field to the castle. Only a select few in the castle knew the passcode to tell to the guard, so it would be the best place to get away.

Star walks through the grass and looks around. This field gave such a nice view of the surrounding area. In one direction you could see the castle and a forest to the castle's left. Facing the other direction, you could see a beautiful lake in the middle of a field. It was very basic, but still very nice scenery. As Star reaches the top of the hill, she slows down to take a deep breath, stops, puts one hand in the other and holds them near her chest, and focuses. She puts energy into the tie between her and Marco, tracing it and it pulls her...

In every. Direction. Still.

Star sighs in frustration. She knew she just had to wait. He had to be leaving within the next day or two. "Just... stop worrying." she tells herself. _"Calm down."_ She takes in multiple deep breaths.

Star looks at the lake, smiling. She hadn't been out here in a long while, and it was always nice to just look around. Thinking about recent events, she didn't notice the figures coming up behind her.

"Hello, princess."

Star jumped and turned around. The three knights who had won the tournament are standing side by side looking toward her. All of them are rather tall, thin, wearing light chain armor and are wearing helmets. Star is very wary, something was not right about this. "How did you get in here?" Star asks. "This area is off-limits to all but a few people."

"I knew the code. You told me" one of them says, she can't tell who is talking due to their helmets. The middle one walks closer and Star starts backing away.

"I never told anyone. Why are you here?" Star hadn't brought her wand, and she was really wishing she had. These three clearly didn't intend to give her a gift if they had bothered to sneak into here. She couldn't dip down without a little bit of time to focus and right now her mind was only able to focus on these three closing in on her. She couldn't run from them. Their armor may slow them down, but her dress would slow her down much more. As soon as she had that thought, she misstepped and fell backwards, now looking up as the middle knight drew a knife and closed the distance between them. Three steps...

 _"Come on, focus..."_

Two steps.

 _"Dip down, dip down, come on!"_

"Star no!" Tom's voice from... somewhere. Not near enough to help. One step.

"Good bye princess." the knight raises his knife and slashes down at her. Star rolls out of the way and stands back up, doing her best to run away. Looking over her shoulder, she notices that the knight had never finished the attack, hand holding the knife in the air. There are black tendrils latched onto his wrist and the knife, pulling back. More black tendrils rise from the ground and latch themselves onto the other two knights.

Star stops and watches, and they all hear a voice call out. A very familiar voice "Who do you think you are?"

Star looks around, trying to find the source of the voice. Then, to her left, she sees a figure in front of a portal. Wearing a red hoodie. Her jaw drops and she can't believe what she sees.

 _Marco_. The immediate relief was quickly forgotten. There was something different. He had a black aura around him.

The knights struggle free, but before they can move, they are all pierced by spikes from the ground, straight through their chests. All the knights struggle for a bit on the black spikes for a moment before they stop moving.

Except for one. The knight with the knife slashes and hacks at the spikes sticking through him, losing his helmet in the process, to reveal a horrifying, glossy, black face. The knight turns directly toward the princess.

 _"That's not good."_ thinks Marco. _"If a hit through his heart didn't kill him, didn't even faze him..."_

By this point Tom, whose voice Star'd heard from far off before, was running up on Star's right side, and far behind him, her parents were also running toward the fight. Right now, she, Marco, and Tom form a triangle around the knight. Tom was extremely angry, fireballs already being sent through the air at the knight. Marco then fired off black beams at the knight.

 _"That black magic... it was Marco's? How... What...?"_ Star was completely lost.

All of the spells hit the knight directly, but he didn't seem bothered by any of it, despite the helmet having no ability to stop the flames from entering and burning his face, as well as the black beams piercing the armor. The knight ran directly at the princess, and Star, still too shocked by Marco's return and his magic, didn't react in time to turn and run. Marco released more tendrils from the ground and wrapped them around the knight, holding him back. "Tom, blast him now!"

Tom's body ignites in flames and he chants some sort of spell in presumably demon language. The only option at that point had been to get the knight away, as he didn't seem to be fazed by lethal hits. He releases a powerful blast of magma from both hands, which swoop down to hit the knight and then swoop upwards to send the knight sky high, blasting him far from sight.

"Are you alright?" both Tom and Star call out, running toward Star. Star was staring at Marco and back slightly away from him towards Tom.

Marco notices this and stops, seeing the panic in her face.

"Star!" the Queen and Kings run up to Tom and Star. "Star! Are you okay? We saw those knights attack you..."

Star didn't answer. She was still staring at Marco.

Marco starts walking forward. "Look Star, I'm... I know you're mad..."

"Stop! Don't take another step!" the Queen demands.

Marco freezes at the command, wondering what was going on.

"I saw that! I saw you use Dark magic! We all did!" the Queen yells out.

 _"Marco... Dark magic... why..."_

Star couldn't think things through. It had been drilled into her from day one. Into nearly every Mewman. Green magic was bad, but even worse was black Dark magic. Only the most evil magic spells were pure black.

"Marco, why..."

"Stay away from my daughter with that evil magic!" the Queen yells again, running up and grabbing hold of Star's shoulders.

"Queen Butterfly, I'm not... It's not evil. I'm not evil!" Marco defends.

"That is evil magic! That isn't tolerated under any circumstances!" the Queen replies. The Queen honestly was conflicted about this. Did she truly believe Marco was evil? No. He had _just_ saved her daughter. But Dark magic was never a good sign. Everyone knew it was corrupting magic, that it could turn the most pure hearts evil. Her first priority was to protect her daughter.

"But I'm not... I just... I just saved Star! Star... you know I'm not... right?" Marco pleads, looking at Star with hope in his eyes, hoping she would believe him.

Star just took another step back into her mother, unable to think anything besides _"Dark magic... not Marco... no..."_. Being attacked, Marco returning, the fear of dark magic installed in her by Mewni beliefs, all had seriously shocked Star and she could only think about what she saw right now, not anything she knew about Marco. Later, she would think through this and be horrified for not sticking up for him, but right now she was unable to.

Tom, watching the exchange, wants to stick up for him. He had saved Star and there was no reason his method of doing so should be judged like this. Tom wants to defend Marco, as someone who always received some spite due to being a demon.

But his selfishness gets the better of him. _"If Marco isn't here, I have Star for a little longer."_ He thinks. He knows it's such an awful thought, but he couldn't bring himself to change it.

The King, silent, watches this exchange. He, too, believed that Dark magic was not a good omen. But he was more open to the idea that it didn't have to be absolute. That Dark magic did not have to mean evil. He knew he could never convince the Queen of this right now, however, and so stayed silent.

"Star..." The hope in Marco's eyes evaporated. "Star... I'm not... I..."

"Leave." says the Queen.

Marco couldn't believe this. They think I'm evil? Because of my magic? They are so biased against my magic, that what I've done didn't matter? Meant nothing?

Marco turns away, and opens a portal. He looks back at them. The Queen looking at him angrily. Star still looking shocked, and a bit scared. Tom looking away from him and biting his lip. The King standing there silently, though admittedly there did seem to be sadness in his eyes as he looked at Marco.

Marco looks down, holding down his tears, his anger. He walks into the portal and disappears. The portal closes.

And it was at that moment Star finally had another thought. _"I just... I just let him leave again."_

 _"What is going on?"_

* * *

Now that we're down here, can I just say, AAAAGGHH, I've loved the SVTFOE episodes that came out this week. Marco seemed very, very moody during Death Peck and I was afraid he was going to stay that way. Glad he wasn't so snappy in the episodes afterwards. And we learn Eclipsa is Heinous's mother! I already suspected Heinous was a Butterfly. The cheeks, helloooo?

Okay I'm done. I have no one here who cares about this show so I wanted to let that out. Hope you enjoyed! Review if you wish. Thanks for reading.


	9. Alliance

Okay, I lied. I had some spare time. Chapter nine! Enjoy!

* * *

 _"What is wrong with me?"_ Star thinks, hugging her legs and resting her head on her knees. _"Why didn't I defend him? Why didn't I talk to him?"_

It was 10 or so hours after the attack had been thwarted. The princess had been hurried into the castle. The two dead knights were revealed to have been monsters in disguise. The guard at the gate of the fields was interrogated intensely for letting these knights pass freely, but the guard insisted that the knights had known the passcode.

When Star was called into the throne room, she'd given them the full story. The knights sneaking up on her and attacking her. Marco arriving and stopping them, and killing two of them instantly. The third knight simply brushing off the spike through the chest. Tom arriving, and Marco and Tom stopping the third knight. She hadn't clearly seen the face, but it was black, hideous, deformed. She didn't talk otherwise, only speaking when prompted.

Afterwards, Tom had walked her up to her room. She asked to be alone, and he relented, reluctantly. She now sits on her bed, curled up, thinking to herself.

 _"He used Dark magic. He used magic! Without a wand! How could he even do that? Let alone Dark magic! How... and I didn't say anything! How could I! He's now... I mean, he didn't... No... No he isn't bad... How could I have thought that? I should have stuck up for him... I..."_

Mewni beliefs always strongly hated evil and dark magic. Of course, everyone knew about Queen Moon's use of Dark magic to scare off Toffee's army, but just being happy to be ending the war with monsters at that time, nobody questioned it. Dark magic is still looked upon as a horrific act. Not without reason. Dark magic was dangerous, with every Dark spell either intruding on people's moral rights, such as the All-Seeing Eye which intrudes on one's privacy and Levitato which prevents one from controlling where they go, or being lethal to one's being, such as the spikes Marco had produced.

But Star knew she had made a mistake. _"I know Marco... I know he couldn't be evil. That was so stupid of me!"_

She could track him, but what could she say? She clearly remembers the light in his eyes disappearing as she didn't move or talk for his defense. What could she say to him?

... "No. I have to talk to him."

Star picks up her pair of dimensional scissor, which she had received from her mother some time ago so she could visit Marco at any time when Marco had returned to Earth. She focuses her energy and attempts to track Marco. She opens up a portal.

Taking a deep breath, she steps in.

...

She walks out and looks around. She was in a castle... one she recognized.

 _"This can't be... Ludo's castle?"_ She hears noises and looks around a corner. She is staring down into the main room from a higher floor, and she sees the horrific black monster that had attacked her. As well as other monsters. _"Why am I here? He wouldn't be her-"_ The monsters all stop talking as the doors to the main room open.

...

...

A figure in a red hoodie walks down the main hall toward the black monster.

The black monster immediately stands up from his throne. "How dare you show up here!"

 _"What is this foolish child here for?"_ the black monster, unrecognized by everyone else as Toffee, was furious. This kid had just stopped his assassination attempt! And now he shows up here!

Toffee takes out a sword from the scabbard on his hip. "Explain yourself, Marco Diaz."

Marco looks up at him, and Star, still hidden from above, flinches at the look he gives. His face is completely devoid of emotion.

"I want to help you."

 _"What?"_ both Toffee and Star think.

Toffee glances upwards. He is aware that the princess had arrived, through her thoughts, but if he announced this, she would leave. Just as he had planned to whisper to one of the monsters under his command in the room and have them sneak up on her, this boy had walked in. And what the boy had said completely surprised him.

"Why would you wish to join me? You just destroyed my plan!" Toffee screams.

"Yes, I did stop you. But I changed my mind." Marco replies evenly.

Toffee looks at the boy, sees the utter contempt on his face. He knew of the boy's exile, again, through the princess's thoughts, and it seemed to have sparked a hatred for the royal family. He could imagine the rage he was feeling. Toffee puts his sword down. _"I could use this boy to completely destroy her."_ he thinks. But he isn't fully convinced of Marco's claim to have changed sides.

"Why should I believe that? The closest ally of the princess, turning so easily? I find that hard to believe, child." Toffee scoffs. He wanted to see the emotions come out of the boy, to see that he was genuine.

And he got his wish. Marco's fists shook and he spoke in a voice Toffee could only describe as dark. There was some sort of deep echo of each word he said. "Because she has played with my feelings for too long. And they all treated me like a monster after saving her, even Star herself."

Star's eyes widen and she opens her mouth to yell, but stops just short, realizing she can't. To tell him he's wrong, that that's not what she'd wanted. She just... she had been shocked at so many things happening at once and couldn't think straight.

Toffee looked at Marco and saw sincere anger. The tears waiting just behind his eyes that didn't come out. "Well, you are part monster, aren't you?"

Marco looks down at his right arm. "I suppose."

Another bit of information that he'd gleaned from the princess's mind to further turn the boy. For the first time, he was thoroughly enjoying the thoughts he was reading from the princess, watching this complete change of her friend. "Where did you obtain the power to use magic?" Toffee asks.

"It was given to me. I don't know why." Marco replies.

 _"That must have been what Marco got from Daqous..."_ Star thinks.

Reading the thought, Toffee smiles intently. " _This Daqous is quite an interesting character, isn't he?"_

"I still don't quite believe you." Toffee snarls.

"What more do you want to know!?" Marco's magic leaks out of him and a black fog pools around him. His voice is not too unlike Tom's voice when he ignites himself, but much deeper and terrifying, and Star shivers at the sound of it. Even Toffee, knowing he can not die, is slightly put off by the horrifying sound. "I want revenge! On the Queen, for kicking me out! On the demon, for saying nothing to defend me and taking what I love away! And her, for..." Marco's voice trails off. His arms shake in anger and he's breathing in short gasps, unable to keep talking. The look on his face was solely anger.

Toffee had seen enough. He was a very attentive being, and very good at picking out people's emotions, and he deemed Marco's feelings to be genuine. He extends a deformed hand.

 _"Don't..."_ Star thinks, desperately staring at Marco, wanting to somehow will her thoughts into his head. _"Don't..."_

"Very well then. I believe your magic will benefit us." The monsters in the room all start whispering at the same time, some excited at the newcomer, others not too sure about him. Star, on the other hand, shaking in fear and anger, watched in horror as Marco walks up to take Toffee's hand and shakes it.

 _"No... Marco no please... God no... I didn't mean..."_ Star trips backwards into the portal, landing on the floor of her bedroom as the portal closes. She just curls up there, on the floor, crying. _"No. Marco no... No... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Anything but this... I can't... I..."_

Back at the castle, Toffee smiles inwardly as he hears her, in her revelation that she has driven her closest friend against her. Toffee looks directly at Marco. "I will join you..." he starts. "But I want some answers first."

The look in Marco's eye said this was to be a quieter conversation. "Follow me, then." Toffee walks Marco to a small room. They enter into the room and close the doors, away from the whispers of the monster in the main hall.

"I need to know what knowledge you have." Marco states. "How did you know the passcode into the backyard of the castle? _I_ was never even told it."

 _"I see no reason not to tell him."_ Toffee thinks. _"After all, he will be unable to provide this information to the princess, just in case it turns out he is tricking me. You can never be too careful."_

"I can hear the princess's thoughts."

"How?"

"I'm not sure."

"Who are you?" Marco asks.

"You don't recognize me?"

"...?"

"Forget it. My name is unimportant."

Marco's eyes widen as he looks over the deformed creature in front of him. "What do I call you?"

"You may call me... Night." Toffee wanted his name to be hidden. No reason to notify him of who he really was.

"Knight? Like what you disguised yourself as?

"Like the time of day."

"Ah." Marco thinks for a few seconds. "One more question. Why didn't my magic work on you? I understand the immortality thing, but you didn't even blink."

 _"Do I answer? I suppose it doesn't matter if he knows this either."_ Toffee thinks.

"After my... defeat," Toffee scowls. "... I roamed around. I can across ruins, and on a pedestal I found a rune. A placard nearby said that ingesting this rune would prevent both pain and death caused by magical means. This mean I am truly immortal now. I can not be stopped, even by the Queen's most power immortal-killing spell, because it is magic."

"Invincible..." Marco trails off.

"Exactly. Now, I have a mission for you to prove your worth."

"What is it?" Marco asks, a bored expression on his face.

"It's simple. Assassinate the princess." Toffee looked for any sign of reluctance or surprise in the boy's face as he said the words. He found none.

"Sneak into the castle?"

"You have dimensional scissors."

"She will be under serious guard and will keep her wand by her. My magic is not going to overpower her spells."

 _"Fair point."_ Toffee thinks. "If you can not do that, then find us some weapons from the castle. I have a plan coming soon and my monsters need more weapons."

"I'll have to do some exploring. I have never seen the Mewni's weapons storage."

"This is your first mission then."

"Very well." Marco pulls out his scissors. It was late night right now, the perfect time to sneak around the castle.

"I will know if you attempt to tell the princess of my ability to read her thoughts."

"I understand."

"Once you find the weapon's storage, simply open a portal from there to here, and we can raid it."

"I know."

 _"No reluctance at all."_ Toffee smiles. _"He truly is changed. Not as much of a disappointment as he once was."_

"Go. I will inform the monsters I command to be ready to move."

"I'll begin then." Marco opens a portal and disappears without another word.

Toffee smiles wider. Surely some greater being was on his side. They had handed him his victory.

"This time, there will be no screw ups. My last plan was sloppy, I admit. Made out of desperation and anger. But this one, this will be perfect."

"Both Moon and Star will die."

* * *

D: Why would I write this? I'm a monster. Hope you enjoyed! (Or hate me for what I've written. I know I know.) Feel free to review. Have a good one!


	10. Soul-bound

Chapter ten! This is the penultimate chapter of this arc of the story.

Also, may I just say I laughed when I read some of the latest reviews because all I could think was "Oh, just you wait until this next chapter".

Enjoy!

* * *

Queen Butterfly looks around at the members of the Magic High Commission. "Is this true?"

Hekapoo nods. "The informant I had tracking this new threat that calls himself 'Night' says they saw him enter the castle and announce he would assist in attacking you and the princess. My informant was in the room, with the monsters, as this happened."

Queen Moon put a hand on her chin, thinking. They boy had joined this new threat? That seemed just too... peculiar. While she did fear the power of corruption that Darkness tended to cause, there was simply no way she could believe Marco would have caved into it so quickly and vowed to attack Star. He wasn't a violent person by nature.

 _"I was far too hard on him."_ the Queen thinks to herself, looking at her gloves, able to visualize the dark veins underneath. Moon was fully aware the use of Dark magic did not have to result in evil, but her bias against Dark magic, as with most Mewman, prevented her from accepting it's use. She hadn't even forgiven herself for her own use of it... In addition, in one of Glossaryck's reports a long while ago, he said that while Star had seemed unfazed by looking through Eclipsa's chapter in the spellbook, Marco had taken an extreme interest into it. Marco may or may not have more control than he did at that time, but how was she to know? Always better to play it safe.

"Do we take him in when we next see him?" Rhombulus asks. "He's an immediate threat, he has dimensional scissors."

Queen Moon continues thinking to herself _. "This has to be a ploy. He wants something from this 'Night'. Likely looking for a way to defeat this being whom magic can't seem to kill. I simply can not accept that he would bring himself to attack Star."_ The Queen then speaks. "Let us wait to see what he's up to. I'm doubtful that these are his true intentions."

Every member of the Commission at the table looks at the Queen with wide-eyed stares. Hekapoo starts to speak, "Queen, you're the one who-"

"I am aware."

Hekapoo closes her mouth and frowns slightly.

"That is my decision." the Queen says.

"... Very well." Hekapoo relents. Rhombulus nods slowly. Omnitraxus Prime makes noise or movement, and the Queen knew he understood.

"Good. We can further discuss this matter tomorrow." the Queen and other members of the Commission all leave. The Queen heads to Star's room. Star should be in her room. She wanted to talk to her daughter, and see how she was taking this. _"Should I tell her about Marco going to Ludo's castle?... No. Not yet. Not until we know what he's doing. No need to worry her further."_

As she opened the door to Star's room, the scene she saw inside shocked her. On the floor to the direct left of her bed, scissors in hand, was Star. She was breathing at steady rate, appeared to be sleeping. Star sleeping on the floor was not the surprise, however.

There on the right side of the bed, was Marco, holding the wand! The wand was mostly pale green with small black wings and a spear-tip on the top, with a purple jewel in the center. Marco looks up as the Queen freezes. His cheeks had crescent moons on them, symbolizing that he could use the wand.

"It appears that Star left her wand here." Marco states.

 _"'Left it'? He must not notice Star laying on the floor on the other side of the bed."_ the Queen thinks. _"What is he doing with the wand? Why is he here? Could I have... been wrong?"_

"I needed to see you, Queen Butterfly. Perfect timing, really. This saves me the trouble of having to look for you." Marco says quietly, raising the wand above his head. The wand emits a powerful light, growing in intensity until the whole room is bathed in it. The Queen attempts to wake up Star, to warn her, but the growing light from the wand seems to drain the sound from her voice...

...

...

 ***Eclipsa's room***

Eclipsa is gazing out of her window at the rose garden below. "Ahh, beautiful, even at night." She glances at a clock on the wall. 10:43. She should probably sleep soon... Instead she peeks out the window again and stares at the garden for a few more minutes before around at the rest of the castle. She sees a light shining in Star's room from her tower, which isn't particularly noticeable unless you are looking right at Star's window, and tilts her head curiously. _"How long has that been shining for? What is that girl doing now_?" Eclipsa chuckles lightly.

After another minute or so, the light fades. Eclipsa shakes her head and walks away from her window. As she gets closer to her bed, a portal opens in the middle of her room, to her right. Eclipsa stares at it, wondering what was going to come out. "Hello?" she calls into the portal. There was a short delay, and then a figure comes through it.

"Hmm. I don't think you belong here." Eclipsa smiles calmly at Marco. Noticing the crescent moons on his cheeks, she looks at the object in his left hand, she adds, "And I don't think you are allowed to be holding that. Strange, though, that the wand seems to accept you."

"I'm not sure why it does." Marco looks up at her. "I have a favor to ask of you."

"Oh? And what would make me want to help the evil little Marco?" Eclipsa says humorously and sarcastically, not seeing Marco as evil for using Dark magic as opposed to many Mewmans.

 _"She should be willing to help me."_ Marco thinks. _"I don't imagine it will take much convincing."_

"To start, I am here on a mission for a monster called 'Night'..."

Twenty minutes pass of Marco talking with Eclipsa. After the full plan is laid out and explained, Eclipsa smiles widely. "My, what a excellent little game you're playing right now!"

"It's not a game." Marco replies, very seriously.

"I must admit I am itching to hold that wand again." Eclipsa states.

"So, can you do it?" Marco asks. "Are you in?"

"I can cast the spell you need without the wand, but having the wand decreases the amount of time needed to channel the energy and cast it. Consider me in." Eclipsa replies. "The weapons storage you're looking for is out my tower's front door, to the right. It's locked, though I don't think you mind that with those scissors."

Marco places the wand down on a desk. The crescent moons on his cheeks dissipate. "Locks aren't a problem. However, there is still-"

"Yes, yes, the other obstacle of the plan. Try looking up there, behind that painting." Eclipsa points to a picture of her and presumably her mother. Marco pulls the painting off the wall and pulls out a small, green-colored crystal with a very sharp point on one end.

"This will help?" Marco asks.

"Just prick the target with this and it will insert a nullifying power into the target's blood." Eclipsa explains.

"You've had this in your room this whole time? What else do you have hidden in here?"

"Oh, simply a few other interesting artifacts and gems I found many years ago." Eclipsa smiles at Marco.

"Forget I asked." Marco says. "Just make sure you're there on time. It's important."

"Since you had the wand, I presume that light I saw from Star's room was your doing?" Eclipsa asks.

"..."

"What was that about?" Eclipsa asks.

"I had a talk with the Queen." Marco replies tersely.

"She saw you here? That's certainly a wrinkle in the plan."

"She's not telling anyone." Marco says evenly. He opens another portal. "I am going."

"Goodbye, then." Eclipsa says with a grin as she looks at the wand on the desk.

"Interesting little game." Eclipsa thinks as she grabs the wand. It transforms into a closed parasol with an orb on the top. The base of the orb has black wings protruding from it, and the top of the orb has a purple crescent moon. It more closely resembles a staff than the traditionally small wands.

"Ah, how long has it been since you took this form?" Eclipsa says, talking to the wand. "How I did miss you."

...

...

 ***Star's room***

Star opened her eyes and stared straight for a moment before sitting. She looked around and saw her clock. 11:13. She'd only been asleep for about an hour? Shaking her head, something outside catches her attention. She stands up, walks over to the window, and gasps.

The moon is full tonight, but it has this slight reddish tint to it. She swears she can see a red crescent moon fading in and out of view within the full moon.

 _"What is that?"_ She wonders. _"Should I...?"_ She tries to focus energy into her Blood Moon tie with Marco, and surprisingly she feels it pulling her downstairs. Looking back up at the moon, she makes a decision. She looks for her wand before she leaves the room, but can't find it. She exits her room and starts to follow this pull.

"Princess?" says one of the two knights that had been assigned to watch her room after the attack earlier this morning. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I would just like to go for a walk around the castle." She replies.

"I'm afraid we can't let you leave right now, princess." says the other knight.

"I think I can walk around the castle just fine, thank you!" Star exclaims.

Both knights look at each other. "We should at least accompany you, princess."

"Please. I just want to clear my head. I won't be far." Star looks up at them sadly.

One knight sighs, understanding how stressed the princess probably feels. "Please hurry back, princess Star." the knight relents.

"Thank you." Star continues down the hallway, following the pull...

 ***Mewni weapons storage room***

Marco steps out of the portal into the room, closing the portal behind him. Looking around, there is a large amount of axes, spears, swords, and shields.

 _"This is a ridiculous number of weapons."_ Mewmans are certainly ready for combat at a moment's notice. Marco opens a portal to Ludo's castle. After a few moments, monsters start coming in and snatching as many weapons as they can find. There were only around a hundred or so monsters.

As all of the monsters are taking weapons, Marco walks through the portal to talk to Night.

"The portal to the weapons storage is open." Marco says simply.

"I notice. Excellent." Night pulls Marco away from the other monsters. "Now let me tell you the full plan."

Marco looks up at Night. "What you're using these weapons for?"

"The location is really more important than the weapons." Night says. "Those monsters will be the distraction while I go after the queen and princess."

"They'll be left to die." Marco tilts his head.

"I don't care for them. I only want revenge." Night's eyes flare up with hatred.

 _"Yeah, I'm fully aware."_ Marco thinks. "As do I." Marco pulls out his mirror and looks at it.

"Originally the monsters would be in groups and charge at the walls from all sides as a distraction, while I snuck in. But your scissors make this even better. A pack of monsters attacking from within the weapons storage? Every guard in the castle will be headed there to fight them. And you can create a portal straight to our targets." Night laughs loudly.

"I dealt with the Queen." Marco says coolly.

"Really?" Night looks at Marco with a look of mild surprise.

"And," Marco smirks, putting down the mirror. "I know where Star will be in 40 or so minutes. I overheard that she is headed to the topmost tower of the castle to look at the stars tonight." A lie, of course, he hadn't overheard anything of the sort. He puts his magic mirror back in his pocket.

"That's... perfect." Night smiles widely, which didn't help his face look any better. "With your magic assistance and my invincibility, this will be over quickly. Make sure to unlock the doors to the storage room before it begins so we can have as little resistance as possible."

"Of course." Marco replies. He cuts another portal open. "I am going to hide near the weapons storage's door and make sure no one can hear what's going on."

"I will prepare for my victory." Night smiles evilly, turns around, and walks away. Marco enters the portal.

Marco now stands in the rose garden, the weapons storage room door in sight. This would all be done soon...

Very soon...

"Marco!?"

Marco turns to his left, toward the sound of the familiar voice. His eyes widen slightly.

Star was standing in the main archway entrance to the garden, looking at Marco in shock.

They both stare at each other for ten seconds, then twenty... Finally, Star speaks up. "Marco... I... I'm sorry. I should've stood up for you! I didn't... Can we... Can we please talk? I want-" Star cuts off as everything suddenly slowly becomes darker. Black tendrils are rising out of the ground between them. Star reaches for her wand, only to remember it's missing. She's defenseless.

Star freezes and a chill runs down her back. "Marco? Marco, I'm..."

More tendrils appear, closer to her now. Star is terrified but doesn't run away. "Marco, don't..."

Marco watches her with a blank stare as more tendrils appear. Closer...

 _"I have to run."_ Star thinks.

But she couldn't move. Not when he was right there.

"Marco, stop. I'm sorry, I really am. I just-"

"I would stop if I were you, Marco."

Both Star and Marco jump at the voice. Eclipsa appears from the surrounding darkness, holding the wand and pointing it directly at Marco.

Marco looks at her, wide-eyed, then his face shows contempt. He walks back through the nearby portal he used to get in the garden.

"Marco!" Star yells, but he's already gone.

"Dear, are you alright?" Eclipsa walks towards her.

"I- I'm fine" Star replies. "Is that... my wand?" she asks, looking at the design.

"Here." Eclipsa hands the wand to her. As Star takes it, it transforms back to it's Star design.

"Thanks.. How did you get it?" Star asks.

"Oh, Marco came into my room and asked me to help him with some ridiculous plan. I played along so I could get the wand back for you." Eclipsa smiles sadly.

Star's shoulders fall. "Is he... Is he really...?"

Eclipsa frowns. "He is currently helping your assailant."

"Oh..." Star looks down.

Eclipsa looks at her. She puts a hand on Star's shoulder. "We will catch him, dear. There is always a chance you can convince him to come back."

Star smiles lightly. "Okay..." she whispers quietly.

"Go to bed now, dear."

Star nods and turns around. Eclipsa watches her go.

 _"And now, it seems, Marco, that there is another little wrinkle in your plan."_ Eclipsa couldn't _not_ give the wand back. That would've been far too suspicious.

 _"I can still perform the spell I need without it. But it takes so much longer."_

Regardless, when she arrived at the topmost tower like Marco'd asked of her, it should be a 3 on 1 fight. A simple victory for them.

 _"I should get moving, then."_ Eclipsa says quietly ass she starts walking toward the stairs to the next floor. _"Many, many stairs await."_

...

Star, halfway back to her room, is passing through another open courtyard when she feels a strange... pulse. She looks up and sees the same semi-transparent Blood Moon. She wanted a better look at the moon, as the lights were distracting and taking away from the details. She wanted to know what this moon appearing meant. She looked around, and then up at the castle's main tower. If she were all the way at the top, she would have the clearest view of the moon in all of Mewni. "I shouldn't, really... my wandering almost got me attacked just now..." Star thought. She almost resists the urge to go, but she felt another strange pulse, like some sort of pressure, and she changed her mind. She started heading up towards the main tower.

"Star?" calls out a voice. She looks over to her left to see Tom.

"Hi, Tom." Star smiles faintly.

"Where are you going?" he asks.

"I just wanna... I wanna go up there and look at the sky." She replies, not wanting to discuss the Blood Moon with Tom.

"Well, let me go with you. I don't like the thought of you walking around alone right now." Tom smiles at her.

"Okay." Star smiles a bit wider. "Thank you, Tom."

"Let's go." Tom says. He and Star start heading up the main tower...

Star, Marco, Tom, Toffee (Night), Eclipsa. None of those involved knew, that in less than an hour, _two_ souls would be taken from amongst them.

* * *

Next chapter is the last in this arc! Not the last in the story! I got still know what I'm going to be writing for quite a while down the line.

Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to review, and enjoy the rest of your day!


	11. Blood Moon

Here it is, Chapter eleven! This one is about twice the length of my other chapters. Enjoy!

* * *

 _"So, Marco was driven off by Eclipsa, unable to kill the princess. Unfortunate."_ Toffee thinks to himself, having gained the knowledge from the princess's thoughts. _"It seems as though he tried to recruit Eclipsa to our side by giving her the wand. An excellent thought..."_ All monsters knew the name of, and were rather fond of, the only queen of Mewni who had showed sympathy for monsters in recent memory. _"I too would not have expected that she would play Marco along like that so she could get the wand back to Star."_

 _"Of course, if the boy had not waited so long, he could have finished the job quickly. He was preparing to strike I suppose, so he is reliable, but perhaps he enjoys being too dramatic."_

 _"All the same, he is quite smart. The princess is indeed headed to the tower, though it was a whim on her part. How Marco could have guessed, I have no idea... I'll have to look into that later._

"Night." Toffee hears Marco in the background. "It is 11:52. It's time to make our move."

"Open the portal." Toffee commands. "Time to end this."

"Agreed." Marco says evenly.

 _"Time to end you, Toffee."_ He thinks to himself, thinking of all the setting up he's done for the plan he's made...

 ***Past - Forest outside Mewni***

Marco wandered through the forest he'd appeared in after leaving Mewni's grounds.

"They banished me." Marco closes his eyes and shakes his head. "Just like that..."

He pulled out his mirror and looked at it. He thought of Star and the mirror changes scenes immediately. He grips the mirror tightly on seeing it. Star is lying on the ground, not breathing, with that horrifying black monster standing over her.

 _"Damn it, he isn't going to give up. This is tomorrow morning."_ Marco grits his teeth, remembering Star, the look in her eye after he'd used his magic, her not saying anything. He _was_ angry about that. But... _"I still have to save her..."_ No matter how mad he may be at her, he would always help her.

 _"And this time, I'm not waiting until Star is in trouble."_ he thinks. He thinks of the black monster, and the mirror's image fizzles into black. _"What?"_ He tries again, but nothing happens. He thinks of Moon, and Moon shows up clearly. Jackie. She shows up too. The black monster... nothing.

 _"I must need to know the name of the person to see them in the mirror. I think you may have forgotten that, Daqous..."_

In a far-off dimension, Daqous looks up in thought, then looks back at his mirror. "Whoops."

 _"Ugh, okay, okay, calm down... just, think... Where would this guy hide?..."_ Marco looks up at the castle in the distance. Ludo's castle. There were moving lights and shadows around the castle. _"He must be there. It's abandoned and perfect for hiding out."_ Marco pulls out his scissor and opens up a portal. _"You're not even going to get close to Star this time."_ He then steps inside.

 ***Past - Star's room***

The light from the wand still shining, Marco lowers the wand. "This is a sound-nullifying spell. Noise can't escape the light." Moon looks at Star, who was out of the light's reach. "Now we can talk without waking her up." Marco says.

 _"He_ does _know Star is in the room."_ "What are you doing?" Moon asks.

"Toffee is back. He was the knight who attacked her this morning."

Moon stares at Marco, shaking her head. "Then... this... this 'Night'.

"It's Toffee. He didn't die. I guess his body didn't regenerate perfectly after Star's attack. He avoided telling me his name, but he said other things that clued me in."

"You..." Moon's face shows no indication, but relief washes over her. "You _did_ join him to get information. I thought so after I had heard."

"Despite my 'corrupting' Dark magic?" Marco says, and although there was no sarcasm in his voice, she could almost hear the spite in the words.

"It's my job to protect my daughter. You've already shown you couldn't handle Dark magic once."

"If you want to protect Star, I have a plan to kill Toffee. You can't tell Star, or anyone who would tell Star. Toffee has been reading her thoughts. That's how he got into the castle's backyard."

"Reading her thoughts? How is that possible?" Moon asks.

"I don't know. He has also used some rune's power that prevents death by magic."

"That... that makes him invincible!" Moon's eyes widen at that realization. "Even... even that spell can't..."

"I already have a plan. I have a..." Marco was about to talk about his mirror, but then reminded himself he couldn't. He knew Eclipsa had long ago found a special crystal that could destroy any long-lasting magic effects by looking into her past, and he was planning to talk to her next. When he'd initially portal'd away from Toffee, he hadn't gone to the castle immediately, but outside of it, so he could look through his mirror and make this plan. "I know where to find a crystal that will negate the rune's effect. What I need is help. He has asked me to help his monsters raid your weapons storage. After that, he plans to use them as a distraction so he can attack you and Star. I will convince him that Star is on the highest tower, as it's the farthest place from anyone in the castle. Then I'll close the portal and trap him there. I plan to give this," Marco holds up the wand. "to Eclipsa, and have her cast the immortal-killing spell."

"Absolutely not!" Moon yells. "You will _not_ give Eclipsa the wand! I can perform that spell just fine."

"Eclipsa will have a better handle on the spell, since it was originated by her."

"I don't care! She can't be trusted!"

"I agree that she is questionable, but... I do know she does care for Star. She'll help."

"No."

Marco gives a look that non-verbally says, 'The wand's in my hand, I'm the one choosing.'

"..." Moon stares Marco down. _"Of course Eclipsa will have a better grasp on the spell, but..."_ She couldn't bring herself to trust her. She couldn't even fully trust Marco.

"Queen Moon..." Marco says quietly. "I understand you hate Dark magic. I understand it has a... horrible history. But times are changing. Even Star knows that. She's been working hard to get monsters the rights that they should have recently. Were you even aware of the work she's put in to do that?" Marco looks at Star on the other side of the bed and smiles. "I am not changed by my magic. My number one priority is making sure she's safe. You know that. Your generation had wars with monsters and Dark magic, I understand that's why you hate them both so much. But it's different now. And I think it's time you try to see things from a newer generation's point of view."

Moon stares at Marco, a frown still on her face. _"As much as it stings to get a talk like this from a child, he's right."_ She takes a slow breath. "... Very well. So you want us to fight him at the top of the central tower?"

"Yes. I shall be taking him there sometime before midnight. I'd prefer to convince him to go outside the castle, where no one else could be hurt, but he knows Star is in the castle. He won't buy it if I try to teleport him anywhere outside the castle. So I decided to tell him she's there."

"That's fine. It gives him nowhere to run."

"I will negate his rune's effect, and then you and I can subdue him with magic, while Eclipsa finishes him."

"A very simple plan..." Queen Moon says quietly, nodding her head.

"It'll bring a horde of monster's in your castle, but they'll be stuck in the weapons storage room. I can portal them all out away from the castle later. Or you could arrest them all if you want. I just have to do it to have his trust."

"We'll deal with that later. We only have," Moon looks at the clock on Star's wall. "about an hour before midnight. I'll get moving." She gets up and turns towards the door. _"I'm willing to have monsters sitting in the castle if it means killing Toffee, as long as they can't wreak havoc."_

"Thank you, Queen... for believing me..."

Moon looks back at him. _"We Mewmen really do let our biases control us. There's simply no way Marco would ever hurt Star."_

"I'll be waiting at the top tower."

Marco nods. "Eclipsa should be joining you with the wand."

Moon walks out of the room, and Marco stares at Star, smiling. "I'm always going to try to protect you, whether you like it or not." He looks at his mirror. Queen Moon is now standing in the top floor of the main tower at the time in the future when he portals Toffee in. Her decision had reflected in the mirror. "Good. Now on to Eclipsa."

 ***Past - Rose garden***

After talking to Eclipsa, giving her the wand and taking the crystal, getting the monsters in the storage room, and talking to Toffee and checking his mirror to make sure Eclipsa would be in the tower on time (he was glad when he saw she would), he stood in the rose garden to make sure the monsters weren't heard, which was when Star had seen him.

"Marco!?"

Marco turns to his left and looks at Star, wide-eyed. _"Oh no."_

 _"This is not good. If I don't attack her, Toffee will know I'm not on his side through her thoughts, but..."_

Marco froze and tried to think of someway around this. While he's thinking, Star starts to speak. "Marco... I... I'm sorry. I should've stood up for you! I didn't... Can we... Can we please talk? I want-" Star cuts off as Marco causes the surroundings to become darker.

 _"I just need to scare her. I need to act ready to attack, scare her off, make her run away. That way Toffee won't suspect anything. If she had her wand and pulled it out, that would be another excuse, but Eclipsa has it now..."_ He raises black tendrils out of the ground between them.

"Marco? Marco, I'm..." Star says as more and more tendrils appear, even closer to her now. "Marco, don't..."

 _"Run already! Please... Just run!"_ Marco begs to her silently, keeping a blank face.

More tendrils appear. Closer... _"Why won't you run!? I can't... I can't really attack her... What do I do?"_

"Marco, stop. I'm sorry, I really am. I just-"

"I would stop if I were you, Marco."

Marco looks to the side to see Eclipsa holding the wand against him. Eclipsa had been watching the standoff and knew what trouble it could cause, and so she had come down to give Marco the excuse he needed to not attack Star. _"Thank God, Eclipsa..."_

Marco feigns surprise, and then anger at Eclipsa. He then walks through the nearby portal. _"Thank you, Eclipsa. Now the plan is fully set."_

Marco didn't know that Star would not only get the wand back, but she and Tom would head up to the tower as well due to a sudden urge. The mirror shows the most likely future, it's not guaranteed. Most likely, she wouldn't have gone, but she did. He could've known, if he'd looked at the mirror, but he'd already seen that the plan would work when he had looked at it while talking to Toffee, so he didn't look at the mirror after leaving the garden, forgetting that while the future can sometimes change for the better, the opposite can also be true...

 ***Present - Mewni castle, main tower, top floor***

Star walks up the last of the stairs of the main tower. The top of the tower was very open, with pillars holding the roof of the tower up and railings all around, giving a clear view of all of the castle's surroundings. Star runs to the edge and and looks up at the moon. The transparent red crescent had become even clearer to see in the time she'd taken getting up here. Tom comes up behind her and looks out as well. "Wow, this is a great view." he comments.

"Tom, do you see that?" Star asks, pointing at the moon. Tom looks up and nods his head.

"Yeah, full moon tonight." he says.

 _"He doesn't see it..."_ Star thinks to herself.

"Star?" Star and Tom both jump and turn towards the voice.

"Mom?" Star asks, wondering why her mother would be up here. She wasn't near the stairs, so she was most likely up here before they were.

"Star, you can't be here! You need to go, now!" Queen Moon says hurriedly.

"Mom, I'm fine! I have my wand right now, I can han-"

"Your wand?" Queen Moon asks. _"But... she shouldn't have that..."_

The conversation is interrupted by the sound of a portal opening. From the center of the room, a portal becomes visible. It takes Star less than a second to recognize the first figure that walks out. "Marco!"

Marco's shock is evident, looking from Queen Moon, who is directly to his left, and then to Tom and Star, straight in front of him. _"Why are Star and Tom here? And where is Eclipsa?"_ He is further confused by the wand being in Star's possession. _"What happened? My plan... I should've looked at my mirror after Star saw me."_

And then the second figure walks through the portal. Queen Moon transforms into her butterfly form as she, Star, and Tom all recognize this man as the attacker from this morning. Tom immediately throws fireballs at both Marco and Night. Marco dodges swiftly and Night takes the hit easily. Night immediately, with surprising speed, runs at Star and Tom, ignoring Star's magic attacks and Tom's fire. Queen Butterfly flies toward them, but having been farther away, she knew she wouldn't make it in time. "Move, Star!"

Star and Tom both jump to the right, Star jumping into Tom, which causes them to trip over each other upon landing and both fall to the ground. Night continues running, drawing a large broadsword and bringing it up for a downward slash. Tom and Star both close their eyes.

But the slash never came. Opening their eyes, they see black tendrils holding Night back. Marco comes at Night from behind, jumping up and stabbing a small crystal into the back of Night's neck.

 _"Now all we have to do-"_ Marco thoughts and magic channeling both cut off, tendrils disappearing, as Night's broadsword pierces his chest. Night had quickly twisted around and stabbed him, straight through the heart, fully through his chest. Marco stares down wide-eyed, and he coughs up blood.

The Queen, having just made it to Star and Tom's side looks on in horror, as do Star and Tom.

"M- Marco?" Star whispers quietly. Night rips the sword out of Marco and tosses him, landing him in the center of the room, face up and head facing them, his face blank.

"Foolish boy." He snarls. Snapping out of the shock, Tom, Star, and Moon all simultaneously blast magic at Night, two hitting Night directly and Moon's spell hitting his sword and shattering it. The spells hitting Toffee cause him to recoil. _"How!?"_ Toffee thinks to himself. _"How do their spells hurt me now!?"_

 _"But none of the spells can kill me. Unless Moon gets the wand."_ At this thought, Night sprints only a few steps, while taking direct hits from every spell, to close the short distance between them and grabs both Moon and Tom. Tom is tossed all the way across the room, hitting a pillar on the other side and landing on the floor, dazed. Moon is lifted and smashed against a nearby pillar, and Night reels back and punches at full force, twice, knocking the wind out of her as she drops to the floor, unable to move. _"Now, the wand..."_ He turns toward Star.

Star looks around at the others in horror and she begins to glow, body starting its transformation into her butterfly form in her time of need, but Toffee swings at her, sending her flying into a railing, and her wand is thrown across the room. Star looks up at him, tears in her eyes, watching Night bear down on her. He raises his arms up to smash her into the ground.

And then more black tendrils appear and wrap around Night's wrist and legs.

Marco grunts, both from the pain and from effort of using magic in this condition. He can't move, laying on the ground and watching as Night is held back by his magic, the only thing stopping him from reaching Star. Night still has Star cornered, though, and Marco could only hold this for so long.

 _"I can't... let him..."_ Marco coughs again and is distracted by the pain. The momentary loss in concentration results in Night getting another step closer to Star. _"No!..."_ He reinforces his magic, keeping Toffee at bay, but only just.

Tom, snapping out of his daze, was readying a magic attack, but couldn't attack with flames for fear of being inaccurate or the flames spreading from the distance and hitting Star.

Marco's vision was fading in and out. _"I can't... keep..."_

Queen Moon looked up and saw Star cornered. Being more accurate, she fires off magic at Night, all of which are weak bolts due to her condition and bounce off of Night. She tries to stand, but simply collapses once she gets to both feet.

And then a voice she recognized started speaking. _**"I call the darkness unto me, from deepest depths of Earth and sea."**_

 _"Eclipsa!"_ Eclipsa had arrived! _"Please... hurry..."_ Marco was finding even thinking hard now.

Eclipsa had just run up the stairs and seen the situation. She'd been delayed just over a minute due to trying to avoid being seen by two guards who had been walking down a hall looking for Star. As soon as she'd gotten to the top, she'd grabbed the wand, which had landed a few feet from the stairs. It had transformed in her hands, and she was now casting the spell they so desperately needed. _**"From ancient evils unawoken, break the one who can't be broken."**_

Star looks up and sees Eclipsa charging the spell. Night also recognizes the words and turns around, eyes widening in terror. He attempts to move out of the way, but Marco's tendrils keep him trapped.

 _ **"To blackest night I pledge my soul, and crush my heart to burning coal."**_ The orb on the top of Eclipsa's wand had turned dark purple now, and a purple aura was surrounding it. Toffee struggled as much as he could.

 _"How can that stupid boy still be holding me?" Why can't he just die!?"_ Toffee turns back to Star, desperate to finish the job before he's hit, but he just couldn't move any further.

 _ **"To summon forth a deathly power, to see my hated foe devoured!"**_ A beam of black shoots forth from the wand, going straight through Toffee's side. Toffee stops struggling and his arms drop, breathing raggedly.

"Move, Star!" Eclipsa commands. Star slides along the railing, staying as far from Night's reach as possible in case he move. Once she's out of the way, more beams fire off at Night, piercing his arms, legs, neck. Marco's Dark magic tendrils disappear. The number of beams rapidly increase and each one destroys a small portion of Night's body. After hundreds of shots, finally, when there was nothing left of him, Eclipsa lowers the wand and the orb returns to a light purple color.

"Marco!" Star runs immediately toward Marco and sits down by him to look at his wound. There was a large pool of blood under him and she knew deep down already there was no way he could be saved. But she still had to try. "Eclipsa!"

"I'm here." Eclipsa says. She raises her wand and it pulses multiple times, each pulse sealing up Marco's gash just a little. The healing was just too slow for a wound from a broadsword that had gone nearly two minutes untreated. When the wound is finally sealed, Eclipsa looks down at the amount of blood he'd lost. _"It's too late_." she thought sadly.

"Marco..." Tears are rolling down Star's cheeks. "You... saved me..."

"Star..." Marco whispers. Marco's eyes dart toward her face, unable to move his head. "Of course... I did..." His words were only breaths.

"I thought... I thought you..."

"I'm your... friend... Never... hate you..." Marco coughs again his vision becomes hazier. He sees two more blurry figures walk up, but he just can't think of who they could be. He couldn't focus on anything but Star, and even that was fading.

"Please don't go. Please... I can't... I can't lose you..." Star grabs his shoulder and arm and grips them tightly. "Don't go, please..."

"... Sorry..." is all Marco says, and his gaze becomes a blank stare.

"No... No no NO! MARCO!" Star yells as she grips his hoodie's sleeve with both hands tightly and cries loudly. Queen Moon feels tears falling as she sees Marco's breathing slow. Eclipsa has a hand over her mouth, and Tom had a sad, but thoughtful, look on his face.

 _"Is there really nothi-"_ Tom's eyes widen. "There's a spell."

Eclipsa looks at him. "What?"

"There's an old demon spell that can save him." Star and Moon look at him now, too. "It's, I-I can't remember it, it's never used because..."

Eclipsa's eyes show understanding as she realizes what he's talking about. "The Blood Moon's Exchange. But it only works with two whose souls have been bonded by the Blood Moon."

"He has!" Tom says.

"With me..." Star looks at Eclipsa and Eclipsa's mouth opens in surprise.

Moon is very shocked. "Excuse me, what!?"

"You two have danced under the Blood Moon?" Eclipsa asks for verification.

"Yes." Star says, looking up at Eclipsa with a glint of hope in her eyes.

"You two, back up. Now!" Tom and Moon both take several steps back.

"Dear," Eclipsa starts. "I know the spell. I know many old monster spells. But you need to know this. This spell preserves half of his soul, at the cost of half of yours. Even the Blood Moon can't change the fact that death will cost a full soul, but it can bend the rules of nature to split the souls of those it has given a bond in half and treat the lost halves as one. This will save him and fully restore his body, but I don't know the effects having half a soul can cause for you two in the future."

"Do it." Star says, with no pause.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, hurry up! Please..."

Eclipsa nods, stands up, and walks back a few paces. _"She might not understand what that sacrifice means, but she doesn't care if it keeps him alive."_ Eclipsa thinks as she raises the wand. _**"I call upon the night sky's power, to aid us in this darkest hour."**_

The orb on the top of her wand shines a brilliant red. The moon directly above them begins to shine red as well. Tom and Moon look up as a red circle traces the moon's outline, and then a curved line is created within the circle, making a crescent shape within, which fills in with red.

 _ **"That which demands these souls be bound, send us your power from sky to ground."**_ The light from the red outline and crescent shines onto the ground around Star and Marco, the image of the crescent moon on the ground with those two in the center. The stars around the moon twinkle out and one by one the rest of the stars in the sky start disappearing from view as well. Star's hearts begin to shine white, and two crescent moons appear and also begin to shine on Marco's cheeks.

 _ **"Take not a whole, but half each soul, take this offering and fulfill your role."**_ Star watches as the crescent moon on Marco's right cheek disappears, and she sees the light from her heart on her right cheek dissipating. The sky is starless now, only the Blood Moon hangs in the sky. The moon's red light now shines incredibly bright. All those awake in Mewni were looking at the moon, wondering what was going on, why the moon was red, what it meant.

 _ **"To preserve your chosen whose souls commune, bathe us in the light of the Blood Moon!"**_ Eclipsa yells. The Blood Moon lets off a blinding flash of red light. The light takes several second to dissipate, and once it does, Tom, Eclipsa, and Moon all run to to Star and Marco. The red outline of the moon was gone and the moon was its normal white color. The stars all reappeared in the night sky. The pool of blood had disappeared and Marco's and Star's cheeks are no longer shining. Marco appears to be breathing just fine now.

"He's... He's alive now. He's... Thank you... Eclipsa." Star continues to cry, staring at Marco resting as she smiles widely.

"Star..." Tom says. "Your cheek..."

"I know..." Star says, still looking down at Marco. "I saw the light on this side disappear... The heart's missing right?"

"It's a... a moon." Tom says slowly.

"What?"

Queen Moon walks around to view Star's right cheek. Indeed, on her right cheek, instead of her pink heart, was a red crescent moon.

"What does that mean...?" Moon asks Eclipsa.

"I don't know, I've never cast the spell before. It's almost never used." Eclipsa thinks for a bit, then speaks again. "I have a theory. We will need to wait for him to wake before I can see if it's correct."

"Thank you..." Star says quietly. Tom moves to sit on Marco's other side, and Star looks up at him with a wide smile.

 _"There's the smile again. Finally."_ Tom smiles back, glad to see her so happy, even if it stung that it wasn't him who makes her smile like that.

Moon looks up at Eclipsa. Eclipsa sees from her face that she wants to talk. Eclipsa walks with Moon over to a railing, overlooking Mewni. Moon holds out her hand, and Eclipsa, somewhat reluctantly due to her fondness of the wand, hands Moon the wand, which again transforms.

"What are the effects of what you just did?" Moon asks seriously.

"To be honest, I'm not completely sure." Eclipsa says simply.

"What?" Moon looks at her angrily. "Are you kidding? You don't know what you did to my daughter?"

"Would you have been able to say 'no' to her in this situation if you'd known the spell?"

Moon opens her mouth to reply, but said nothing.

"Precisely. This spell took half of her soul and half of his, instead of taking a whole soul. The remaining halves that they have then merge together. Now their souls are not just bonded, they are one soul."

"You didn't know what that would do? What if it had killed them both?"

"The story around the spell says a male Mewman created the spell for his wife, who he was soul-bonded to, when she was dying of an incurable sickness. It was said that he found the Blood Moon could be used for a branch of magic that could defy magic and natural laws. Most of his studies were lost, or incomplete, or failures, but this was one of the few spells that he specifically noted to work. I was very sure they would live."

"I need to talk to them about this Blood Moon soul-bond thing. I was not aware of this." Moon says, looking at Star, Tom, and Marco.

"Likely, they didn't know about the soul-bounding. It's a legend that most don't believe in. Anyway, we'll have to wait to see if there are any side-effects."

"..." Moon looks back at Eclipsa. "Thank you. You saved us all."

"I apologize for being late. Getting around the castle without being seen isn't easy." The comment could be taken as an attack, but Eclipsa just softly smiles, showing no malice in her voice or face.

"I... was thinking of changing that." Moon says.

"Hm?"

"I was... thinking of releasing you."

"Simply because I helped? I used Dark magic to do so, you realize?"

Moon looks at Marco, and Eclipsa follows her gaze. "I've been told..." Moon starts. "that I _may_ have a biased opinion on both monsters and Dark magic."

"I see." Eclipsa's smile widens.

"That doesn't mean I trust you."

"Noted."

"..."

"Quite an interesting human, hm?" Eclipsa says.

"Yes." Moon smiles lightly. "I am... very lucky he was the one chosen to guide Star around when we sent her to Earth. Very lucky that they met."

"We should probably move him to a better resting spot than the floor."

"We should." Moon and Eclipsa walk back to the kids. The four of them surrounded the unconscious boy and Moon uses the wand to raise him into the air. As they all walk toward the stairs, unbeknownst to them, the moon gives off one final, faint red shine.

* * *

To the few people who pm'ed me saying Tom is ooc, yes, he is. I wanted a Tom who mostly got over his anger and is more composed for my story as opposed to the cartoon, where he is calm as long as things are okay, and angry when it's not quite going his way (which is the primary reason I don't like TomStar and don't expect it to last). It's on purpose.

As for the story's direction, I'm trying to test out many different types and see how I do. This section was mostly drama and tension, the next section is going to be calmer and have a lighter tone to it.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Feel free to review! Thanks for reading!


	12. Freedom

Chapter twelve! Imma go make some food now. Quiet chapter. Mostly. Enjoy!

* * *

"Mm..."

"...arco?"

 _"Hm?"_

"Are you awake?"

"Mmm..."

Marco slowly opens his eyes. His eyes take a few seconds to focus, and when they do, he sees Star standing next to him, looking down at him. Behind her, Tom is sitting in a chair, looking up at him.

"Marco!" Star's eyes light up and she smiles lightly.

"Hey..." Marco looks around the room, recognizing it as his room in the castle. _"I'm... alive?"_ he thinks.

"How... how are you feeling?" Star asks nervously. She didn't know if the Blood Moon spell had done anything else to him.

"Surprisingly... I feel good. I don't feel hurt at all." Marco places a hand on his chest and is surprised not to feel bandaging or a scar of any kind. _"How did they fix that? Must have been magic, but I've never seen healing magic... And even then, I'd been bleeding for a while..."_

"Good." Star smiles at him, and although the smile is a bit awkward, he can't help but smile back. Tom smiles, stands, and starts walking toward him.

"So you feel perfectly fine right now?" Tom asks.

"Yeah." Marco answers.

"Good." Tom says, and then reels back and punches Marco's arm at full force.

Star looks at Tom, and Marco grips his arm tightly. "Agh! What was that!?" he looks up at Tom with a bewildered expression.

"That's for hurting Star." Tom says as he turns around and sits back down in a chair. Star giggles under her breath and looks back at Marco.

Marco looks at Star. "I'm sorry... Star." he says quietly.

Star's smile turns into a slight frown and she remembers what the reason he had left was, or so she'd heard. "I... It's fine. Just... Don't do it again." Tom looks at Marco, waiting for his reply to her, ready to chew his head off if he doesn't agree.

 _"Don't do it again."_ Implying she expected him to stay here. Implying she _wanted_ him to stay. Even after all this garbage he'd caused. Marco wasn't even sure if he had planned to stay before the fight with Toffee. But now...he could. While Dark magic was fueled by emotion, it also amplified emotions and, for those that had trained to do so, could also be used to _help_ control emotions. It couldn't just make you feel however you wanted, whenever you wanted. But it could help with controlling and maintaining feelings, which had always been a weakness of Marco's. He wore his heart on his sleeve. Now, though, he could more easily maintain his feelings for her. "I... I won't."

Of course, he didn't know that she already knew. Nearly every time he looked at her on the mirror, it was him fretting over her potential death. He hadn't seen the talk between Star and Kelly.

"Promise?"

"I promise, Star."

"You can't break this, Marco." Star says seriously. He'd never broken a promise with her and she wanted to remind him of that.

Marco smiles again at her. "I know."

Star looks over at Tom. "Tom?"

"I heard him." Tom says, smirking. "He breaks it, I break him."

Marco, Tom, and Star all laugh quietly. Although it was indeed said as a joke, Marco could read the quiet threat between the lines. _'Don't hurt her like that again, or one punch on the arm won't be all that happens.'_

"Hey, Tom..." Star starts.

"You need to talk to him by yourself?" Tom asks, smiling at her. He'd already known she'd need to talk to him one on one.

"Yeah..."

"I'll be in the nearby courtyard." Tom smiles as he walks out of the room, closing it behind him.

Marco looks at Star. He notices the red moon on her cheek instead of the heart. He wanted to ask, but decided to do so later.

"... My mom... told me about everything. Toffee reading my mind and stuff... I'm sorry I thought you were trying to..." Star says and looks down.

"I... kinda needed you to think that, or not know about it. If you had thought otherwise, it wouldn't have worked."

"That's why you didn't attack me in the garden."

"I couldn't really attack you just to keep my cover..."

Star frowns again. "I should've stood up for you... I just... Mewmans, we... And I was shocked... I just froze... And..."

"I know." Marco smiles softly.

"And I was already an emotional wreck for the past few weeks..."

"I'm sorry..." Marco scratches the back of his head.

"..."

 _"I have to ask him, I have to ask, I have to-"_ "Marco?"

"Yes?"

"Do you..." Star starts. _"Wow, this isn't as easy to ask as I was thinking it was gonna be."_ "Do you..."

Marco looks at her questioningly.

"Do..." _"Ugh, I can't ask."_ Star thinks of a different question. "Are we... still friends?"

"I- Yes!" Marco says immediately. "I mean, if you're okay with that..."

"I am! I really am! I was just making sure... It's just... I don't know how to... start again... or continue..." Star says quietly. How could they just immediately go back to how things were before all this? Especially after her learning about Marco's feelings...

"..." Marco looks down at his hands. "Yeah, I really screwed this up, huh?"

"No..." Star starts. "It's not just you, I should've... noticed something was wrong."

"I should've told you when you asked." he says, and then immediately regrets saying it. It had sounded like the right things to say, but...

Star pounces on the opening he gave. "So why don't you tell me now?"

"Star..."

"You just said it. You said you should tell me." Star leans forward and puts both hands on the bed, looking him dead in the eye. _"I have to know if it's true."_ she thinks.

"I..." Marco is thinking up anything he can say when he remembers a a line from a conversation he'd had with Daqous:

 _'In my honest judgment, as I always tend to give, you would have hurt her far less by simply telling her.'_

"I..." he starts. Star's eyes are still locked on his as her eyes widen a bit, waiting to hear what he would say.

"I... might... uh haha..." Marco laughs awkwardly, then clears his throat. "I..." He looks away from her. "... I like you."

Star stares at him. "What do you me-"

"A lot." Marco continues, feeling his cheeks flush. "I like... I have a... crush on you."

Star grips the edge of the bed tightly _. "It's true."_ she thinks.

"I didn't want to say anything, because you're with Tom." Marco says, still looking away.

"..."

"..."

"..."

 _"She's not saying anything..."_ Marco turns and starts talking. "Star-" He stops as Star lunges forward and wraps her arms around his chest, hugging him and burying her face in his shoulder.

"Thank you... for telling me..." Her breaths are irregular, and he knows she's crying. He hugs her back. "I'm sorry..." she says quietly.

"Yeah, how dare you be awesome. Stop that." Marco says jokingly, and Star's light sobs turn into quiet laughs. She tightens her hold, and Marco enjoys the hug, their first in a long time.

"I just want things to be back to how they were before..." Star breathes out.

"So do I... But it can't."

"Yeah..."

"So there's not point in trying to make things like they were before. We just continue on from here. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine, Star."

"..."

"Hey," Marco pulls away from the hug and looks her in the eyes, smiling at her. "I mean it. I'll be okay."

"Okay..." Star smiles lightly back at him.

"I _am_ hungry right now though." Marco hops off the bed. "I can go to my house and-" he cuts off.

"Marco?"

"Did my parents know I was missing?" Marco asks, frowning. "They must've been so worried..."

"I, uh..." Star looks down. "When I checked your house, I didn't tell them we didn't know where you were... As far as they know, you've just been here..."

"... Maybe it might be best to keep it that way..."

"Yeah..."

"Well, I'm going to go over there and make some nachos."

"Oooh I want some! Just wait, let me go get Tom!" Star runs out of the room, and Marco just smiles to himself. _"It's still going to suck seeing them together... But yeah, like Daqous said, having my best friend back, and just talking to her, feels much better."_

 _"..."_

 _"It's good to be home."_

Marco reaches into his pocket for his mirror, pulls it out, and his jaw drops.

A crack. _"But I... I never told anyone..."_ He thinks of Star, but nothing, save his reflection, shows up. He thinks about this for a while, trying to think if Daqous had mentioned any other reason the mirror would break. Nothing.

 _"Whatever."_ Marco throws the mirror onto his dresser. _"I have more important things to worry about. Like fixing up things between Star and I."_

...

 ***Daqous's dimension***

Daqous looks at his mirror, completely shattered. Around him, patterns of white and black unravel around him. Chunks of the vortex break and gray is shown behind it.

"Oh, you again." Daqous says to you looking away. "Whatever you are, it's clear you are not bound to the rules of my dimension, and you can not be seen on my mirror. Or rather, _could_ not be seen. As you can see," Daqous gestures to the destroyed mirror. "I have larger concerns right now. My dimension is falling apart, and I have no clue as to why it is."

"Luckily, it seems you can not interact with other dimensions at your leisure, and so I have created a spell which should prevent my further noticing of you from this point on. It will help me sort out this problem, as well as do my job without distraction. Good bye." Daqous snaps his fingers. He looks around in every direction. "That seems to have done it. Now then-"

 _ **"I am deleting this dimension. Your punishment is over."**_ a voice says in Daqous's head.

Daqous raises an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

 _ **"I have thought on it, and perhaps your decision, those many years ago, was the correct one."**_

Daqous looks straight ahead. "I see. Would this have to do with Marco Diaz's actions?"

 _ **"That is but one of many situations I have witnessed that has changed my mind about my punishment, and so, you are no longer confined to this dimension. I have converted your mirror's power into your mind."**_

"Understood. I am honored that you believe in my decision to give mortals freedom over their futures."

 _ **"You are still prohibited from physically affecting the world around you."**_

"I understand."

 _ **"However, you may speak to anyone you wish. You may impart knowledge when asked, or when you deem appropriate, with the exception of future events, and present events that you would not know without your power."**_

"Of course."

 _ **"You are free from your job of watching the courses the many different worlds take. You may now live in these worlds shaped from your decision. And you will be freed of your curse"**_

"My curse?"

 _ **"Good bye, Daqous."**_

"... Good bye."

A shine of gray light...

...

...

...

Daqous wakes up. He immediately levitates off of the ground, and is slightly shocked by the sight before him.

Mewni castle.

"You do have quite the sense of humor, don't you, dropping me here." Daqous laughs, talking to the voice in his head that was now gone. "I do enjoy a goo-"

 _Enjoy?_

 _Enjoy._

"I... do. I do enjoy. And... I'm rather excited at the prospect of seeing Marco and Star again, honestly."

 _'You will be freed of your curse.'_

"And quite happy to be out of that dimension. And even glad that things worked out for Marco and Star."

...

Daqous smiles. "Thank you." he says.

* * *

Daqous got a little gift, and now even he can feel the love. I'm tired. Feel free to review. Hope you enjoyed. See ya next time. Good night.


	13. Visitor

Unlucky number thirteen! Don't worry, nothing bad happens! Enjoy!

(For those of you asking if this is the end, I believe I had said somewhere in one of my author's notes that it wasn't, but I'll just say it here to make sure. No, this is NOT over. The story is shifting: this part is going to be less down-in-the-dumps drama and tension, but I still have plenty of plans for the story.)

* * *

Marco is the first to walk out of the portal after he, Star, and Tom had made nachos at Marco's parent's house. His parents hadn't been home. Back in his room in the castle, holding the large bowl of nachos, he takes a few steps, and then stops, staring straight ahead.

"Hello." says the man levitating in front of him, smiling.

Star comes through next. "Hey, don't steal them!" she yells, running to the side of Marco, and she to stops in her tracks. "Uhh..."

"Hello." the man says again, to Star this time.

Tom comes through last, and looks curiously at Marco and Star, wondering what they're looking at. He walks around to Star's side and sees a man with black hair and a very odd white and black suit. "Uhm, hello?" Tom says.

"Hello." Daqous says.

Marco lets out a small laugh. "What are you doing here?"

"My dimension was destroyed. I am free from my confinement."

"Oh." Star says, still amazed to see Daqous. "That's cool."

...

"Wait, no, that's awesome!" Star finally snaps out of her trance. "That's really good!"

Tom looks at all three of them, confused. "Who is this joker?"

"My name is Daqous." Daqous smiles at Tom. "I am the master of Light and Dark magic."

"Uh... _the_ Daqous? From myths?" Tom says skeptically. In response, Daqous snaps his fingers on both hands and from his left hand, a white light spills out, from his right hand, a shining black orb. Tom looks in interest. "Wow... that's a fancy trick." _"I guess he could be Daqous. No normal being can use both Light and Dark, except with a wand or other magical item."_

"You are correct, Tom. Only I naturally wield both." Daqous says, and Tom reels back slightly. "Yes, I can read your mind."

 _"... Sure, he's Daqous."_ Tom thinks. _"Why not? Wouldn't be the weirdest thing."_

"Why are you here, of all places?" Marco asks.

"Well, I recently have received emotions, and my emotions have told me that I would like to stay around here."

"You can feel!?" Star asks excitedly.

"Yes, and it's... a bit odd, to be honest. I also have the ability to, how to say, 'turn them on or off'. So when I'm making a judgment or such, I can 'turn them off' as to not have a bias."

"That's... cool?" Marco didn't really know how that could work, but he also didn't fully get how Daqous worked, so...

"Ooh, I bet my parents would like to meet you. Well, maybe..." Star says, thinking of Daqous's Dark magic.

"I was already thinking of talking to them. I may not have Glossaryck's total magic expertise or his vast knowledge, but I do have as much expertise as him in Light and Dark, and am still quite skilled with other forms of magic. I also have a relatively good amount of knowledge."

"Wait... you... you're going to... be my magic instructor?" Star asks.

"And Marco's as well, if you're okay with that."

"Yeah! I mean... Glossaryck hasn't really... been himself lately..." Star sighs.

"If I were allowed to interact with the world, I would love the chance to help him, but I can only speak, unfortunately... Anyway!" Daqous claps his hands. "I plan to stay. I'm no Glossaryck, sure, but I do hold dominion over two magic branches."

"That would be great!" Star says excitedly.

"Agreed." Marco smiles.

"Not my castle." Tom shrugs his shoulders. He holds out a hand. "Good to meet you."

"The same to you." Daqous stops levitating and shakes Tom's hand, then moves towards the door.

"Daqous... You... mind changing out of your uh... that." Tom points at his suit, which does look extremely out of place in Mewni... And, well. Anywhere else.

Daqous looks down at his set of clothes. "Mmm... I suppose I should, but I have no other clothing."

"You can't magic yourself up some new clothes?" Star asks.

"This set is a special enchanted set. I can't dissipate these clothes away. So I need to have a another set to change into. But I have none."

"I'm sure I have something packed with me." Tom says as he heads out Marco's bedroom door. "Just wait here a bit."

"... Mmm," Star pushes Marco toward the door. "You should go with him."

"Wait, what?" Marco looks back at Star.

"Just go!" Star says, smiling.

"Uhm, uh, o-okay?" Marco gives Star a strange look as he walks off after Tom.

As soon as Marco is out, Daqous shuts the door. "Was there something you wanted to ask, princess?"

 _"Of course he already knows."_ Star thinks. "What do I do?"

"Whatever you believe is right."

"I don't know!"

"I can't tell you what's right." Daqous smiles softly.

"How do I choose?"

"You'll just have to."

"That's such a dumb answer."

Daqous chuckles. "It's the truth."

"How do I know what the right choice is?"

"You'll have to figure it out over time."

"Not helping!"

Daqous puts both hands up in the air, as if surrendering. "I'm simply answering your questions."

"Ugh!" Star picks up the pillow from the bad and buries her face in it.

Daqous laughs lightly. "If I may, princess."

"What." Star says through the pillow.

"Don't try to answer that question when you don't have the means to. It will come in time."

Star throws the pillow on the bed. "I guess... But when will I know?"

"When you find the one you'll know. The right one, and this isn't just talking about those two, will be who not only makes you happy when they're with you..." Daqous walks up to her. "... but who also makes you happy at just the thought of them, and most importantly..." He leans in just a bit and whispers the next words. "...who makes you happy with yourself, because liking yourself isn't a particular strength of yours."

He takes a few steps back just as Tom and Marco come back in. _"He knew they were coming, so he made sure they didn't hear..."_ Star thinks, amazed at Daqous's seeming omniscience.

And, of course, she was stunned that he'd just called her out on _that_ little fact.

 _"He really does understand how people think and feel, even before he could feel..."_

"Here." Tom holds up a nice gray button-up shirt, with black dress pants. Daqous looks at the clothes for a few seconds, looks at Tom, and says simply:

"I don't wear gray."

"What?" Tom glares at him. "Just... Just wear it."

"Fine." Daqous snaps his fingers and the shirt becomes white. He then takes the clothes and heads for the door. "Now I will wear it."

"Dude..." Tom shakes his head, and Marco and Star both laugh quietly.

"I am off." Daqous says as he turns the corner.

"Bye, Daqous." Star smiles. "Okay, now for... Uh... Marco?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are the nachos?"

Marco looks around. "They shoul-" He looks out the door. "I forgot them. They're in the room Tom's staying in."

Tom, Star, and Marco all look at each other for a moment, and then Star immediately breaks into a sprint. "MINE!"

"NO!" Both Marco and Tom chase after her.

Daqous hears the yelling as he walks down the halls and smiles. "I have a feeling there will be few boring moments around them."

 _"Especially over the next few days."_

Daqous changes into the new clothes, returns to Marco's room to hang up his own clothing, then walks himself toward the throne room. As he approaches the room, the guards in front both look at him.

"What business do you have with the Queen?" one asks.

"I am here to discuss becoming her mentor in learning magic."

Both guards look at each other. "Wait a moment, please." One guard goes inside the throne room. After a just over a minute, he exits. "Go on in." the knight says, holding the door open for Daqous.

"Thank you." Daqous walks in at a steady pace. He makes eye contact with the Queen and King as he approaches, giving a friendly smile. The Queen does nothing but nod. The King gives a faint smile back. Daqous stops in the center of the room and bows. "Your majesties."

"Who are you?" the Queen asks.

"My name is Daqous."

"Daqous..." the Queen says, thinking. "That's an odd name."

"I am an odd being."

"You were asking about being my daughter's magic tutor?"

"I am." Daqous states.

"That is a strange request."

"I am skilled in magic."

"Why would you want to be a tutor?" the Queen asks.

"It is all I can do."

"I think I'm going to need a better explanation than that."

"Hm... Where to start... Well, for starters..."

Daqous goes into details about his meeting Marco and Star, giving Marco his magic, training Star, his dimension, the dimension's breakdown, his arrival, and other such details. The Queen was skeptical until Daqous performed Light and Dark magic simultaneously. The total length of time of the conversation, including answering the Queen's questions, took nearly an hour.

"So you have knowledge of... nearly every historical event, what is happening now, and the future?"

"I do." Daqous says. "I am limited in what I can tell others about the future and present, however."

"You say you can not interact with this world?"

"I can not interact with it, in the sense that I can not directly affect how the future progresses. I can teach others, give knowledge, answer questions, but I myself can not directly act in order to affect how events progress."

"I have some questions for you, if you don't mind."

"Please ask, your highness." Daqous smiles lightly.

"About those two... I want to know... What does the Blood Moon do?"

"Ah, the Blood Moon. One of the few forces mortals can use to bend even nature. 'Those chosen by the Blood Moon shall forever have their souls intertwined.' Those are the original words, time has warped the saying a bit."

"What does that mean, exactly?" the King asks.

"It means that, by being chosen by the Blood Moon, their souls are linked together for eternity. They are destined to walk the same road, be it as lovers, friends, or even enemies."

"Is that... good?" the Queen asks.

"It is whatever it is. Good or bad, they will both walk the road together."

"... Then, what about this... this spell Eclipsa cast? You know what I'm talking about, right?"

"The Blood Moon Exchange." Daqous nods. "A spell of an rare branch of magic. In the face of the death of one bonded by the Blood Moon, the other partner can sacrifice half of their soul to preserve half of the dying partner's soul. The halves left behind are merged to create one soul that is shared between the two partners."

"What are the effects of that?"

"I am afraid this magic is scarcely used, and I can not pretend to know all effects. Of the eight... well, now nine, sets of partners bonded by the Blood Moon, only Marco and your daughter, and one other set, have ever used the spell. The other set seemed to not experience any negative effects, aside from discomfort when greatly distanced from their partner."

"That's a small relief." the Queen smiles lightly.

"Other effects, more on the neutral or positive side, included their vision turning a redder color when their partner was in immediate danger. They also seemed to develop some sort of telepathic power between each other."

"That's..." the Queen thinks for a moment. Vision turning red didn't sound very great, but it could mean that Star had an extra safety measure if she ever got into trouble. Telepathy... also could help. "That's not the worst. Finally, if one partner was uncomfortable, whether physically or emotionally, the other seemed to share the discomfort."

"They are helpful skills for two people looking after each other." Daqous nods. "There could be new developments, as this pair both were not magical, while Star and Marco are."

"I would like if you told me of any that you find."

"So, I am her tutor?"

Queen Butterfly looks at her husband. He shrugs and nods his head, saying, "Yes. I see no reason against this."

"I do not, either." says the Queen.

"Very well, then. I shall leave." Daqous bows.

 _"Daqous."_ the Queen thinks for Daqous to pick up, not wanting to ask out loud.

 _"Yes?"_

 _"What is going to happen to my daughter? Everything seems very... not great for her right now."_

 _"I can not answer questions about the future. But rest assured, she has many people who will be watching out for her, and she is more than capable of handling a bit of stress."_

The Queen shakes her head. "Thank you, Daqous."

"Of course. Have a good day." Daqous turns and walks out of the throne room.

 _"Yes... Most likely, the next few days to a week will determine a lot of what her future shall hold. Who she may choose, what she will do. It should be interesting."_

* * *

You should've known when I list OC as one of the major characters that Daqous would be coming back. This is my guy, my emotionless (or semi-emotionless now) bystander who tells it like it is. I enjoy characters that have that very neutral-but-wise air about them. He's a bit less neutral now, but he'd still assist anyone, even Star and co.'s enemies if they asked, so don't think he's just sitting with the heroes for sure.


	14. Relapse

Hello! Chapter 14! Enjoy.

* * *

 ***That night - 10:46***

Star jumps onto her bed, landing face-up, and stares at the ceiling. Marco and Tom had both gone to their rooms to sleep as well. Today had been fun, even knowing it was more just her and Marco forcing things to not be awkward right now. It'd get better, eventually, she knew. She was just happy he was back.

She just wishes she knew what to do to not hurt Marco more.

 _"And how the hell to deal with these feelings."_

Since Marco had been back this morning, Star had felt her feelings for him bubbling up. It wasn't as though she just instantly wanted to be with him, but the feeling was rising up very quickly. _"This was why I had been trying to put a bit of space between us. I couldn't stand crushing on him and not having the feelings returned. This was partly why I had gotten together with Tom..."_

 _"But Marco's crushing on me now. And now I really have a crush on Tom now. He's mostly gotten over that anger, and he's super sweet."_ Star thinks, remembering Tom helping her get through the past six weeks and helping to look for Marco for her. _"And my crush on Marco is coming back."_

 _"And then Daqous... calling out my..."_ Star picks up her pillow and tosses it on her head, laying sideways now. Daqous was _right_ , of course. Star had never been one to like herself very much. Between:

1\. Not thinking she can be a competent princess, let alone queen.

2\. Having been unable to convey her feelings to Marco until she left Earth.

3\. Now the tables being turned and her being the one hurting Marco, even if he said he was alright now.

4\. Not being able to decide what to about Tom, #2, and #3 right now.

5\. Not progressing in her magic studies as well as she's wanted to due to Glossaryck's condition.

6\. Her reaches for bringing Mewmans and monsters closer all having middling effects.

... She just couldn't bring herself to think she was a very great person. This wasn't a new feeling to her. Even when she had first been sent to Earth, she'd felt inadequate as a princess due to her personality. She hadn't been the "perfect princess" her mother had wanted at the time. She'd had little self-control and was often causing more trouble for others than good, and it made her feel awful, but she buried that by going on wild, risky, and often pointless adventures. It made her feel better, as it was what she was good at, and what she enjoyed.

And then... Marco. She'd met Marco and they became friends. He'd slowed her down, watched out for her. He'd taught her that she can't use magic as a shortcut for everything, especially relationships with others. He hadn't flat out disagreed with adventuring and using magic in fun ways, just to take caution when doing so and measure if it was worth the risk. She had become a lot more responsible and more receptive to other's feelings, helping her understand that she can't force her help on others when they're uncomfortable with it, and can't just break into someone else's matters without asking. He'd encouraged her to be herself, but had still changed her at the same time. Being with him had made her more thoughtful, but hadn't ever taken away what she enjoyed about herself. It made her feel very comfortable with herself, knowing she didn't have to completely change. It made her like herself more.

How was she supposed to have _not_ fallen for him?...

But then she left Earth, and her and Tom had gotten together. Maybe it had been started partially due to her grief over Marco, but now, Tom was an excellent, amazing person who also cared for her, and had worked on his anger very well. She hadn't seen him blow up since... before they had started dating. He had dealt with her during her depression after Marco had disappeared, both being there for her when she needed comfort and keeping his distance when she needed to be alone. He had worked as hard as he could to find any trace of where Marco had gone, for her. He was sweet and was always willing to help, just like Marco.

On top of all of this, this uncomfortable feeling she'd had since that dream of going to the past was getting worse as well. It was pushing her to think about both of Marco and Tom a little too much. They took up well over half her thoughts. She hadn't had any dreams since, but she woke up every morning sweating now.

 _"It's almost like I-"_ Star sits upright, wide-eyed. _"Oh, no no no. That can't be it. I don't have time for that!"_ She thinks. Things were awkward enough in her life right now without adding more. "Oh what do I do, what do I doooo?" Star says quietly.

 _"I should just ask mom. In a few days..."_ Star thinks. _"Tomorrow..."_

...

 _"Tonight..."_

...

 _"Right now. I have to get her right now."_ Star gets out of bed and walks out of her room, down the stairs, and toward her parent's room.

 _"I can't let this happen right now."_ she thinks. _"Mom should know something to do to stop it for now."_

She passes by Daqous, who is currently walking around and admiring the castle. "Hello, princess." he says, smiling.

"Don't read my mind." Star orders just as she passes him.

"I'm afraid you're too late, princess."

Stars face goes red as she keeps walking through the hall. "Don't say anything!" she yells back at Daqous.

"Of course, princess." Daqous chuckles. _"Soon it will be time for the princess's second mewberty phase. She's been through her first phase, but the method she used to attain her second butterfly form was unusual. It seems that nature, instead of allowing her to skip the second phase of mewberty due to already having accessed her second butterfly form, has decided to push up the phase to be earlier than usual. She normally wouldn't be going through at this time. Interesting, I've never seen that before. It should make things far stranger than they currently are."_

 _"After all, the second phase of mewberty is extremely selective. The girl does not fawn over each and every guy, like in the first phase."_

Daqous chuckles again as he continues walking, looking at the courtyard he's currently passing by. _"Ah, these structures are much nicer to see in person."_ he thinks to himself. _"And it is nice to have emotions that let me enjoy them."_

 _"Emotions... Of course, all I have felt so far is basic joy and amusement, so I have little true idea how other emotions feel. It should all come in time, I suppose."_

Daqous stops and looks down the hall leading to the stairs to Star's room, with Marco's room to the right just before the stairs, and the guest room Tom had taken to the left.

 _"Someone seems unable to sleep."_ Daqous thinks, hearing Marco's thoughts of how uncomfortable he was. _"I'm sure the discomfort of her mewberty is shared with him due to the Blood Moon_." Marco wouldn't feel any of the needs that she will feel, but he would feel very odd until her mewberty passed.

"That effect appears to the same, in any case." Daqous walks past the hall and continues walking through the castle. He had requested that he be presented no room, as he did not sleep, and his only possession was his enchanted clothing, hanging up in Marco's room, therefore he planned to simply spend nights walking around the castle, enjoying the views.

"Daqous."

"Tom?" Daqous replies. Tom had just came around the corner.

"Could I ask you some questions?" Tom asks.

"I'm sure I can answer some of those questions swimming about in your head." Daqous follows Tom to the guest room he's using.

"So... I... kinda want to know what to do."

"About?"

"Well, like... c'mon, you know what I'm asking about."

"You are wondering about what you should do when Star breaks up with you."

"..." Tom looks away.

"Why are you so certain that she will?"

"Oh come on, the Blood Moon?"

"The Blood Moon does not bond people as lovers."

"But like, that's what's expected." Tom looks back at Daqous.

"That is what mortals all expect because mortals love to hear a good love story. The Blood Moon has nothing to do with love. Now I'm not saying the two bonded can not love each other, but simply that the Blood Moon is not a factor in this." Tom gives Daqous a skeptical look, to which Daqous says, "In fact, of the eight Blood Moon partners bonded before those two, only three pairs were actually together, and two of those pairs had already been married. The 'Blood Moon causing those bonded to fall in love' is simply a change to the legends that mortals created over time to make it more romantic. It is simply not true."

"But... surely you know how they are with each other. I mean... they're closer than... I could ever hope to be to her."

"Of course, they have gone through many things together. They have helped each other and they patch each other's weaknesses. As for you not being that close to her, that is not strictly true. What is going to end up ending your relationship with her at this rate is your very toxic outlook."

"I..." Tom can't think of a reply.

"You smile and are very kind to her, loyal and looking to make her happy, pretending you are completely fine. But these ridiculous thoughts you hold, that this has to end at some point against your will, eats at you. It makes you feel inadequate, and that will easily affect any relationship. You need to fix those thoughts of yours. They're based off no fact."

"I can't help that! I just always feel so... behind. In everything!" Tom ignites his body in flames. "If it had been me who had walked out like that, she'd be sad, sure, but she would not have gone through all the effort that she did, in order to find him, just to find me!"

Daqous is unfazed by the blaze. "You are merely proving my point, now to the point that you are again showing that anger of yours. You make yourself feel inadequate. It is not healthy for either of you. You need to have a handle on yourself before you can hope for a relationship to work. That is not to say the partner can not help you get over your weakness of feeling so poorly about yourself, but they can not help you when are making the _relationship itself_ and how it _could end_ be the reason for your insecurities."

Tom's flames go out. "What? Wha, I'm not... the relationship isn't what's wrong!"

"Then tell me what's wrong."

"I just... I... can't..."

"You can't feel good about yourself."

"..."

"But it is not her job to do fix that. That is something you must fix. But you have this thought of the relationship ending because of the Blood Moon, which is false. Because of this thought, you feel even worse about yourself. You make yourself feel unable to succeed, and thinking of your relationship and the Blood Moon makes it worse."

"... So what do I do?"

"The way I see it, you have three avenues. A. The easiest way. Break up with her." Daqous says simply. Tom flinches, and Daqous continues. "This gives you the means to work on your attitude and outlook without it being compounded by looking at her or thinking of the Blood Moon and the 'inevitable' break up and feeling less adequate."

"B. The harder way. Tell her how you feel about her and Marco, the Blood Moon, and your emotions, and decide together what to do. This is not much harder, but you two may decide to break up. If you two decide to stay together, she may take what you've said as a sign that she's doing something wrong, even if you tell her otherwise, which puts more strain on her to want to fix things. This option requires you two be very close to begin with. However, this will likely strengthen your two's relationship if you work through it. Risk and reward."

"C. The hardest way. Do not break up and learn to not be so hard on yourself and let this Blood Moon thought go. With her around, however, you have to try harder to both maintain her happiness and fix yourself. You do not win over a girl by moping about, even silently and hiding behind a smile, thinking that she may leave you to be with someone else. Instead of complaining that you are not as close as Marco is, work to be as close as Marco is. But this is hard when trying to fix yourself as well."

Tom sits on the bed and puts his head in his hands. "Basically, I break up with her to fix myself; talk to her and maybe break up, maybe not, but fix myself either way; or don't break up with her and suck it up and just fix myself?"

"Notice how all options involve fixing yourself."

"How can you say breaking up with her is the easiest way? She could find someone else. Or we just don't get back together."

"It's the easiest way to work on yourself."

"What if I fix myself just for her to be with someone else?"

"If you are so fearful of her leaving the first chance she gets, why are you together with her?"

"I don't-"

"You do. Your dislike of yourself is so strong you consistently fear it."

"I just..."

"I've given my opinions on your roads. You shouldn't force yourself into a situation that's hurting more than helping."

"You think I should break up with her."

"No. I think you need to sort out personal issues. Whichever avenue you choose is up to you."

"..."

"Perhaps she moves to someone else. But I guarantee you that fixing yourself is the first step to feeling overall happier."

"... Okay." Tom lays back in his bed.

Daqous opens the door to leave.

"Thanks..." Tom says quietly.

"Of course." Daqous says as he closes the door.

 _"How odd it is that everyone is asking the one who hasn't felt love about love."_ Daqous chuckles softly. _"I have seen these situations many, many times though. It makes sense."_

How good it was to be free.

* * *

Star is having a mewberty relapse, and Tom is having an anger relapse. Oh the joy!

Most of these deep conversations are just from my own personal experiences. I've had to help a lot of my friends through rough times. You may or may not agree with what's said. Sorry if you don't, it's just my outlook. Hope you enjoyed reading! Please review, I enjoy reading them. Have a good day!


	15. Mewnian

Chapter 15. It's a bit shorter than usual. Still, hope you all enjoy.

* * *

"Nothing!? How can there be nothing!?" Star exclaims.

"It's just nature for Mewman girls, dear." The Queen says softly. Star had woken her up and they had moved into another room, as Star didn't really want to talk about this in front of her dad.

"Mom, this isn't supposed to happen yet..."

"Yes, this should be happening much later, and then you would have control over your butterfly form. It might be that mewberty is happening earlier because you transformed into your butterfly form much earlier than you should have."

"This can't happen right now, Mom! I'm trying to fix things with Marco, and... I... I don't want to hurt Tom or Marco with this!"

"'Or Marco'?" the Queen repeats, raising an eyebrow at Star. "Would this affect Marco as well?"

"..." Star looks down at the ground.

"... You like them both, don't you?" the Queen asks quietly, smiling softly as Star nods her head slowly. "Oh, Star..." The Queen pulls her daughter into a hug, and Star hugs her back.

"I don't even know what to do about my feelings right now, and I can't throw mewberty in with it. I could very easily hurt one of them." Both Tom and Marco were unaware of what the second phase of mewberty was like. Marco had seen the first phase, and Tom would likely have heard of mewberty's two phases, but they couldn't _really_ know what it's like. It wasn't a normal phenomenon where they lived, unlike Mewni.

And it often wasn't the most pleasant experience for whoever was chosen and caught by a mewman girl in the second mewberty phase. The second phase of mewberty is _much_ more intimate than the first phase. The afflicted girl has very strong sexual needs, and is extremely picky. Instead of being attracted to every male, like the first phase, a girl in her second phase of mewberty only captures boys around her age that she has strong feelings for. Normally only the one she has strongest feelings for, that was handily accessible at the time. Of course, accessibility is rarely an issue when a girl in mewberty form can fly. And once the boy was caught, they were forced to sleep with the mewberty-ridden girl, the girl using the boy to please herself and the boy normally tiring quickly, but stuck there for the whole night. Mewberty was purely instinctual, not caring much for the feelings of the partner. The girl had to be satisfied in their full mewberty form to end the second phase, had to be completely tired out, which could take well over twenty rounds, due the ridiculous increase to their sex drives during this time. Mewman girls going through the second phase of mewberty or in the full mewberty state couldn't become pregnant, nature's way of protecting girls in this time so they can get over the second phase.

"Well, it isn't exactly like your first phase, dear." the Queen says, running her fingers through Star's hair. "You can hold it off for a while, unlike the first time, but it isn't easy. And... It will build up if you do this, makes it increasingly harder to hold back, until you simply can't."

"What did you do?" Star asks, resting her head against her mother with her eyes closed.

"I... was a bit older than you when I went through it. And I was with your father at the time."

"Lucky..."

 _"Lucky? She's treating this like it's so bad. It's like she's gotten-"_ It was at this moment the Queen realized that some of Earth's customs may have overridden some of Star's Mewnian customs. In Mewni, mewberty is simply a part of life. The age of consent on Mewni was lower than on Earth due to that. What happens during the second phase of mewberty isn't looked down upon or considered indecent or dangerous. The girl in mewberty form is not conscious, acting on instinct. There was nothing to be done about it. It's even joked about often by all people of Star's age group and up, males laughing at their male friends who clearly had not had a fun time the night before, females simply not caring too much, as it was something every female had to go through, and they felt much better after it was done. In addition, the female never held any recollection of their time in their second mewberty phase. It was not uncommon at night to see a girl in mewberty form flying above the town, presumably toward her crush's house, and the people who do see the girl flying simply snickering, and wishing that poor boy good luck. It was an accepted part of life for mewmans.

But Earth was different. There was _nothing_ right about mewberty in Earth customs. This behavior broke many laws on Earth. Granted, it broke many laws on Mewni, too. But it was always overlooked if the girl had been in the second phase of mewberty. The worst thing that happens is that the male wakes up with a headache and _very_ sore. It was also very difficult for any woman to get away with a crime by claiming that she had been in mewberty. Not only did the phase happen only once, but mewberty form makes a large number of those odd hearts everywhere the female went, and they could only be made during mewberty.

Earth looked down on this kind of behavior, simply because mewberty wasn't a custom on Earth, or, really, anywhere else. For earthlings, the thought of being forced into sex for an entire night by a girl they may or may not know, even if they like them, was not just tiring, but horrific. No being, human, mewman, or otherwise, could even come close to keeping up with a mewman girl in mewberty. Past the first hour, it normally became tiring and painful for the male.

And the two who she had feelings for right now... she couldn't have that happen to them. They weren't mewmans. It could scare them, hurt them. If she gave in to her growing needs, the pheromones being made in response to mewberty starting, and transformed, that could happen to them! And she'd have no control or no memory of it.

 _"Of course, I could mark one of them... that would help... But which one?... what am I thinking, I can't do that!"_

"I can't... let this happen..." Star says quietly.

The Queen continues combing the princess's hair with her fingers. "You can stall it, dear. But it has to happen _eventually_."

"..."

"It will be alright, dear. We could send them away for now to keep them out of your reach. Let you get past this."

Star shakes her head. "I need to fix things with Marco right now."

The Queen smiles softly. "Alright, dear."

"I'll just... have to hold this in for now."

"It's not easy."

"I don't have a choice, mom."

The Queen kisses Star's forehead. "Do what you have to, dear."

Star smiles lightly. "I always do."

"I know." the Queen laughs quietly.

...

 ***The next morning - Star's room***

"Star!"

"Mmm..." _"Marco's voice... sounds... nice..."_

"Star! Wake up!"

"Whaaaaat?" Star, eyes still closed, swings her arm out to push Marco, who dodges out of the way of her hand.

"Hey, this little get together was your idea!"

 _"What?... Oh. Right. That."_ She had gotten in touch with various friends and had planned to watch a movie at the Diaz's house today at noon-ish. She'd, of course, asked the Diaz parents beforehand.

"That can wait." Star says sleepily as she nudges her head into her pillow to get more comfortable. She swings her arm again at him.

"It's 10:45 already, Star." he says, but Star doesn't hear it as Marco catches her arm in his hand, causing Star to feel a small surge of pleasure at the contact and jump up immediately, pulling her arm back. Marco looks at her, slightly worried. "Are you okay?"

 _"No, the last thing I need right now is you or Tom touching me."_ she screams in her head. "Yeah, yeah, just a little jumpy. Didn't sleep too well last night."

"Join the club." Marco says, yawning. "I don't know why, but I couldn't sleep last night. Tom looked like he was up pretty late, too."

"Not a club I'd like to be a part of, honestly." Star walks to her dresser and sees the clock. "Marco! It's 10:46!? Why didn't you wake me up earlier, squire?"

Marco smiles at her, tilting his head. "Your squire woke you up at 9:00 and you'd said you'd get up. I can't fix lazy."

Star glares at him. "Next time just push me out of bed." _"Actually, given my condition right now, maybe not..."_

"I'll keep that in mind." Marco says, smiling wider and rolling his eyes as he walks out her bedroom's door. "I'm going to go set up."

Star shakes her head, smiling as well. "Make nachos!" she yells after him as he shuts the door.

Marco heads down the stairs. He knocks on Tom's door twice. "Tom, wanna help me set up?"

A few seconds pass, and then the door opens. "Sure, let's go." Tom comes out in the ripped red hoodie, which had once been Marco's.

"You know you ruined that, right?" Marco says as he opens a portal.

"This is called an upgrade." Tom retorts, shaking his head. "Humans have no sense of style."

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." Marco says with a light laugh. He and Tom enter the portal to his house on Earth, to prepare for the movie get together with many of their friends.

* * *

Mewni is different from Earth. Mewnian's have their own different lifestyle and issues, too. Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to review. Have a good day!


	16. Instinct

Chapter 16! Giving a little insight into some of the other character's thoughts right now, be seeing some of 'em again coming up later in the story. Enjoy!

* * *

It was 5:30 p.m. Popcorn, nachos, sodas, and other snacks and beverages all lay littered on the table in front of Daqous. Star, Tom, Marco, Kelly, Jackie, Janna, Daqous were all slouching around in the Diaz's living room, watching some of the most recent comedies to have come out in the past month. Tom and Star were sitting on the right end of the couch, Tom on the end of the couch with his arm around her shoulders, Star smiling, trying to stay calm despite the tingles running up and down her back. On the other side, Jackie was sitting back into the couch, and Janna was next to her on the end. Marco and Kelly both lay slanted on the floor in front of the table, Marco on the left of the table and Kelly on the right, both on their stomachs, heads propped up on their arms, facing the TV. Pony Head had been unable to attend due to some family issues. Daqous, who was entertained by some of the thoughts being passed around by the others in the room as much as he was entertained by the movies, also sat on the floor, resting back against the middle seat of the couch, between Star and Jackie, behind, and within reach of, the table. He was the primary person handing food and drinks to the others when asked, as he was situated in the center of everyone.

 _"So few people really paying attention to this movie."_ Daqous thinks to himself. Tom was thinking about what Daqous had said to him last night, and Daqous was glad to know that some thought was being put into what he had said. He was more than glad to give knowledge or suggestions, as long as his suggestions were taken seriously.

Star, enjoying the simple contact of Tom's arm around her shoulders just a little too much due to her mewberty, was still able to divert enough attention away from that to pay attention to and laugh at the movies that had been playing. Mewberty didn't have that strong of a hold quite yet. Though she didn't make any obvious showing of it, she was also slightly bothered by the way Marco and Kelly were laughing together at the movies on the floor. It was obvious they were just friends, they weren't flirting or anything, and Star kept thinking about how it shouldn't bother her anyway, she was with Tom, but it still just made her feel... uneasy.

Jackie, discretely, was looking at Tom and Star, then at Marco. She was wondering what exactly was going on, as she had been sure when Marco had left that he and Star would be together. But no, Star was with this demon, and Marco was currently the farthest person from her. Jackie was thinking maybe she had been mistaken about the situation...

Janna was... well... She was thinking about how to best prank someone at school. Amongst other things. Not gonna say.

Kelly was thoroughly enjoying laying on the floor by Marco and watching the movies, as, since the events at Lava Lake Beach, she'd found Marco to be an excellent friend since he'd helped her with Tad. She had been thinking worriedly about how she had told Star that Marco liked her, and had been worried that Marco may be angry at her, but the look on his face and the genuine smiles he gave had reassured her that he wasn't angry, or simply didn't know that she'd told Star, and she had dropped those thoughts and was enjoying laughing with him at the silly jokes and antics of the characters in the movie.

Aside from Daqous, who, even outside of his dimension, had the ability to focus on multiple thoughts and actions all at once with equal attention due to having spent millennia watching hundreds of thousands of different scenes on his mirror, _Marco_ , of all people, was the most calm and most attentive to the movie, excluding the times when he was making more nachos or popcorn. Having already dealt with his thoughts and emotions towards Tom and Star, even if it still stung, he was the most relaxed, laughing quietly at every joke or dumb moment in the movie with Kelly. He couldn't just ignore those two together, of course, but whenever he saw them or thought about them, he reminded himself what was more important to him, reminded himself that his number one goal wasn't to date Star, it was to watch her back, to be her closest, best friend.

 _"Funny, really."_ Daqous thinks. Even though Marco was aware that he was her best friend, he'd never thought about the fact that he also _was_ the closest person to Star. When Star'd had problems, such as sleep-portaling to different dimensions or making plans to travel to nearby kingdoms to try and get rights for monsters, as well as other things important to her, _Marco_ was the first, and sometimes only, person she trusted to help out. Not Pony Head, not Tom, not even her parents.

The same smile has been plastered on Daqous's face the entire five and a half hours of the movie marathon so far, finding perhaps a bit too much enjoyment in the large mix of thoughts. _"Emotions do make things far more interesting."_ he thinks, laughing quietly.

"Uh... Daq?" Daqous looks up at Jackie. Daqous had already been introduced, though just as Star's new magic teacher. to Jackie, Kelly, and Janna. Janna had taken to shortening his name to Daq, at first saying it like doc, which is correct (his name is pronounced Doc-oh-us), but then she changed the pronunciation so as to not sound like she was saying doctor, making 'Daq' rhyme with black when she used the nickname. And the nickname stuck as the movies continued to roll through and people asked him for snacks and drinks. "Could you hand me a Sprite?"

Daqous reaches forward to grab a soda can, then hands it to Jackie, hearing the quiet "Thanks". Daqous nods his head and turns back to watch the movie. They were approaching the end of the third, and final, movie of the night. He was content with how today had gone. The movies had entertained him thoroughly, and he felt very comfortable sitting here amongst people, despite being the newest addition to this group.

Star shuffles around a bit, smiling at Tom when her movement draws his attention from the movie. He smiles back, turning back to the movie, though he was staring through the TV, lost in his own thoughts.

 _"I really don't deserve that smile of hers... I mean, I can't bring that smile out of her myself anyways, that full, bright smile... Only he does..."_

 _"I really am a mess..."_ Tom had spent most of last night thinking about his problems and realized he really _did_ rely on Star to help with them, which she simply couldn't do. _"I mean, I worked so hard looking for Marco because I believed he's the only one who could cheer her up, and I barely even tried to myself. I'm relying on her for something she just can't provide, and it's just making me more depressed that it's not fixed when I need to be the one to fix it."_ The thought of letting Star go was painful, but... _"This is one-sided. I want her to give me some way to fix my problems, and what can I give her? Nothing when I'm like this. Eventually it'll just drain her."_ He had to work on himself first, and it was hard when he kept thinking about how much he didn't meet up to Marco, or didn't deserve to be with Star. _"So..."_

Daqous, hearing these thoughts, feels the smile that's been on his face for hours slowly turn to a frown. He wasn't happy to hear it, even if he had been the one to suggest it, and knew it was the best choice for Tom. He feels a twinge of regret he knows he has no business feeling just for giving his honest judgment of the situation. _"No wonder mortals tend to make some stupid choices due to feelings. Sometimes it's emotionally easier than making the right choice."_ Daqous files away this little experience in the back of his mind to make sure that he would never forget to negate his feelings before giving assistance, for emotions can really mess up one's judgment, if he felt this way even when he'd done what he believed correct.

Soon enough the credits started rolling, and Marco gets up and starts clearing the table. He'd noticed the difference in atmosphere after the third movie had been put in. During the first two, everyone had been laughing and talking, pointing out stupid things. During the third, it had been much quieter, with the exception of himself and Kelly. There had been plenty of laughs, but they had been quieter. _"Maybe three movies was a bit too much for everyone to sit through_." he thinks. "That's all! I'm gonna start cleaning up all this."

Daqous stands, carrying his own piles of dishes and bags of food. "I will assist you."

"Me too!" Kelly says, grabbing a few of the popcorn bowls and following Marco and Daqous into the kitchen.

Star gets off the couch and walks with Janna and Jackie to the door. "It was nice to see you two again!" Star says, smiling widely.

Janna smiles back. "You'll have to invite us over to Mewni someday, I'd love to see it."

"Will do!" Star says excitedly. "That sounds great!"

Janna opens the door and heads out. "See ya, Star."

"Thanks for inviting us, Star. It was a lot of fun." says Jackie, putting on her helmet and picking up her skateboard.

Star looks at Jackie, and for a moment the only thing Star can think is, _"She's the one that took his first kiss."_ Star feels her anger rising up and forces herself to hold it back. _"That shouldn't matter to me, I'm with Tom. Damn mewberty."_ Star counted herself lucky that the normal hearts that would show up on mewman girl's face during mewberty weren't seeming to show up on hers. Her mother had theorized it was because she had already transformed into her second butterfly form, and didn't need to go through the metamorphosis. _"Too bad I couldn't skip everything else about mewberty. The hearts are the easiest part to deal with."_

"Of course!" Star says with a smile that hides her true feelings toward the girl. Jackie heads out and Star closes the door behind her.

Marco walks back into the living room to pick up the last bits of food and dishes on the table. "You can go on ahead, Star, Tom. Daqous, Kelly, and I should all have this done pretty quick."

"Got it." Star pulls out her scissors and uses her scissors to open a portal to the castle. "Come on, Tom."

She and Tom walk through the portal and end up at the far end of the hallway leading to the stairs to her room, Tom's guest room on the left of the stairs. Star closes the portal and they start walking down the hall, stopping in front of Tom's room.

"Hey, uh... Star?"

"Yeah, Tom?"

"Can we, uh... can we talk?"

Star stops and looks at Tom, hearing the more serious tone of his voice as he walks up to her, grabbing her hands in his. She follows him inside his room. "What's up?" she asks.

"I uh..." Tom looks her in the eyes, and then looks away awkwardly. "I..."

"Tom?" Star tilts her head at him. He wasn't normally one to have trouble saying what he was thinking.

"I... need to... work on some things myself." Tom says quietly.

"Okay?" Star half-smiles, not understanding.

"Things I can't work on like this." Tom looks down.

 _"Is he...?"_ "What are you...?" Star stares at him.

"I'm sorry, Star. You make me really, really happy." Tom looks up at her. "But I can't do much for you in return. I'm sitting in this awkward area where I'm so happy to be with you, but I'm upset knowing it's not me making you happy."

"What are you talking about?" Star gives Tom a very confused look. "You _do_ make me happy!"

Tom smiles lightly. "I make you laugh, and I make you smile, but I don't make you that happy."

"What are you... what are you talking about!?" Star pulls her hands away from his. "Tom, what's going on?"

"Why did you agree to go out with me again?" Tom asks simply.

"What? I... you..." Star struggles to keep the anger out of her tone. "You showed you wanted to change, and you've been so caring and sweet."

"And... that's it?"

"What does that mean?"

"Plenty of people are like that. What made you choose me again?"

"I..." Star tries to think of what to say. "You... you've looked out for me, and you helped me so much, and..."

"That sounds similar to what you've said, Star. Caring." Tom looks at her sadly. "But there are plenty of people like that."

"What do you want me to say!?" Star yells, holding back tears, hands clenching tightly into fists.

"Weren't you feeling low at that point?"

"What?"

"Because Marco had just left, for what everyone thought would be for good?"

Star's eyes go wide. "What are you... saying..."

"I've been going after you for so long because you make me feel great. I don't think great of myself, like when I tried to do the Demoncism, and I felt better with you around. But that didn't fix the problem, it just masked it. Covered up my own issues. It's the same with you, isn't it? You can't tell me you dropped your crush on Marco in the short time between when he left Mewni and came back."

 _"I did."_ She could feel the words at the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't say them. She knew it wasn't true, and she couldn't lie to him. "I..."

Tom nods his head and looks away from her again. "You felt down, you felt bad. It was the same way I felt. Different scenarios, but the same feeling. We both wanted comfort. You because of him, and me because I just... am always down on myself."

"Tom..." Star feels a tear roll down her cheek.

"So... I think we should break up." Tom says quietly, then adds in a somewhat doubtful voice, "Or at least... take a break."

 _'Break up.'_ Star freezes completely at the words. Did he just... "WHY!?" she yells.

 _Who the hell does he think he is? He thinks he can do this now!? Absolutely not!_ Star feels herself losing control over her emotions, feels herself losing control over her mewberty.

And her condition wins. She gives off a small growl as her body begins to shine brightly.

Tom looks at her, wide-eyed. "Star!? What's going on!?"

The light disappears and Star floats upwards slowly, staring at Tom. The second mewberty form has little different from her full butterfly form, with the full, yellow butterfly wings, the large, star-shaped pupils, and an orange dress with yellow trim with small hearts down the front. Her hair is put up in two large ponytails, her boots are white, and she has four extra arms. The only real differences are the lack of the front heart piece with ribbons attached to it that she had when she first transformed into her butterfly form to defeat Toffee; her skin, which was slightly more gold-colored and glowed faintly; and the fact that she now had the occasional white and yellow hearts coming from her body and fluttering slowly toward the ground.

Star, no longer in her own mind at all, is looking at Tom, planning how best to enjoy the treat in front of her. She's readying to charge down at him, to fire off webs of hearts at him, entrap him, play with him, when a voice comes from outside the room.

"Star!?"

Star looks just past Tom, out his door, toward the voice, and sees someone more... appealing standing outside.

 _"Marco..."_ Just the thought of the name pleased her. Her thoughts were almost purely instinctual, there was no time for debate. She had to choose the best choice, _now_.

Star dashes in a downward arc toward Tom, and Tom raises his arms in front of him to prepare for the hit, but he only feels the wind as Star flies past him and out the door, four hands grabbing Marco and turning left, then flying directly up the stairs.

"Star? Star!? What're you doing!?" Marco flails around in a useless attempt to break free.

Tom runs out of his room and just sees Star disappearing from view as she flies upwards. _"What the hell was that?"_ he thinks.

"Star! What's gotten int-" Tom hears Marco's voice cut off as a door slams.

 _"What... was...?"_ is all Tom can think.

* * *

Oooooh, now he's done it. Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to review. Have a good day!


	17. Control

Chapter 17. Not what some of you were looking for. Hehehe. It's coming up though. Slowly.

Enjoy!

* * *

As soon as Marco is dropped onto the floor, he scoots back away from Star until his back hits the frame of her bed. Star is on him in an instant, her middle set of arms holding his shoulders, her lower set pinning his waist to the frame.

"Star, what're... what's..." Marco was attempting to break free, but Star had never been particularly weak, having fought monsters constantly, the same as him, and having two extra sets of arms gave her a clear advantage.

Star ignores his attempts at talking, thinking now how to proceed with this boy. _Her_ boy. _"I'll have to move him to the bed soon, but I could get rid of the clothes now. I wish he'd stop squirming so much. He's making things so much harder."_ Star smirks. _"But I can stop that."_

Her face only an inch from his, she brings her top set of arms up, right hand tracing Marco's collarbone through his hoodie, left hand reaching behind his neck, pulling his face closer as she closes her eyes. Marco stops struggling, staring at her as he feels her lips _just_ brush against his.

"S-Star... I..." Marco whispers pleadingly. Star opens her eyes, expecting to see the look of want in his eyes, the same need she felt right now. _"Take his lips, and then... and then..."_

There was some sort of need there, for sure, but she hadn't expected the worry or fear that was even more prevalent in his eyes. _"And then... then..."_ Star pulls her head away a bit. The worry in Marco's eyes was evident, worried about her, why she was like this. The confusion and fear, though, was what caught her attention. He was terrified, his eyes wide, unable to say more than a handful of words. He didn't understand what was happening, didn't understand why she was acting this way. Star was pinning him down and he couldn't seem to get through to her. It was obvious she'd taken interest in his body, and Marco wasn't comfortable with this not only because they had never even come anywhere close to something like this, but also because he believed her to be dating Tom.

And seeing that fear brought back her concern for her closest friend, brought back her senses. Her wings disappear and her pupils return to normal. Her extra sets of arms dissolve into light, hair falling down around her and her outfit converting to the light green dress with the octopus that she'd been wearing prior to her transformation. She pushes herself away from Marco and falls backward, sitting with her hands on the side of her head, fighting off her mewberty.

"Get out." she says quietly.

"Star, are you okay?" Marco, not understanding that she wants him out of her room for _his_ good, crawls toward her quickly and puts a hand on her shoulder, worried at her shaking and clear distress.

"Get out get out GET OUT!" Star screams at him, jolting away from his arm and not looking up at him. "GET OUT RIGHT NOW!"

"Star-"

"I'M FINE, JUST GET OUT!"

Marco looks at her doubtfully, seeing her shaking and clutching her head and not feeling that she was 'fine' at all, but complies with her wish, walking out her door. He looks back at her, worried about what was happening to her, as he closes her door.

 _"I almost just..."_

 _"I..."_

Star gets up and walks unsteadily to her bed, falling into the mattress and crawling to her pillow.

 _"I need to get this out."_ she thinks, feeling the need throughout her body, the heat causing her entire body to shake and sweat. She reaches a hand down, rubbing her thigh though her leggings, sliding her fingers up and moaning lightly when her hand reaches her center. Noticing the wand on her nightstand, she grabs it and performs a noise-cancellation spell on the room, placing the wand next to her and closing her eyes.

 _"There... now..."_

...

...

Marco was walking down the stairs slowly, thinking about what had just happened.

 _"What happened to her? It was like she hadn't even heard me. She was acting like she did when she went through mewberty on Earth, but this... this was much more..."_ Marco's face turns red at the thought of Star's lips grazing his.

 _"And why me!?"_

"Marco!"

Marco looks up as he reaches the bottom of the stairs and sees Tom and Queen Butterfly running down the hall.

"Where's Star?" Tom asks.

"She's uh..." Marco shakes his head, clearing his thoughts. "She's in her room. She told me to get out."

"After taking you up there?" Tom says, confused.

"Yeah... Queen Moon?" Marco looks up at the Queen.

"I came here because Tom said Star had transformed and attacked you." the Queen explains.

"It wasn't really an attack, she just..." Marco looks down at the ground, and the Queen puts together what happened.

"Yes, I can see that." the Queen says, sparing Marco from having to explain. _"I'm surprised she let him go. I've not heard of any Mewman girl stopping themselves once they transformed... Then again, no one tries to stop. It's Mewnian culture. The only question is, what triggered this? It shouldn't have this much control over her already."_

"Queen Moon, do you know what's going on with her? She seemed to be in really bad shape..." Marco asks.

"I believe so, and I think it's not something I should tell." the Queen says. She couldn't imagine that Star would be too happy with her if she told them, as she was desperately trying to _not_ reveal it to them.

"It might have something to do with..." Tom looks away and continues very quietly. "... the fact I just broke up with her."

Marco looks at Tom with a stunned face, but the Queen maintains her composure as she thinks over the words. _"Ah, there is the last piece."_ Queen Butterfly could see the whole picture now. Tom breaks up with Star, Star loses control and goes after Marco, but pulls herself out of it. While the Queen had discouraged Star from holding her mewberty back, she felt a small bit of pride at the self-control Star must've had to pull herself out of that state. _"Far more control than I had at that age."_ Considering Star's behavior before being sent to Earth was anything but controlled, it made the Queen feel content that Star was growing up very quickly.

Now onto the current issue.

"You two broke up?" the Queen asks.

"I... broke up with her. I'm sorry, Queen Butterfly." Tom bows slightly toward her. "I have... things I need to work through. I don't want my problems affecting her, and it was hard to fix while being with her. I will be packing up and heading home tonight to avoid any further issues."

The Queen resists the urge to smile. When had her daughter surrounded herself with so many responsible friends? She clearly remembered Tom when Star had last dated him, a young demon who was wild and crazy, his anger thrown around everywhere, pining after Star endlessly. This demon standing in front of her right now was nowhere near the same. Perhaps the timing could have been better, but Tom couldn't have known about the mewberty.

"Hm..." the Queen nods her head at Tom, not saying anything else. Tom walks into his room, closing the door and starts packing his things. The Queen has Marco walk down the hall with her, away from the door. "Star is going to need a bit of space periodically. She's been having an rough time the past few days. She will be jumpy, and she may likely ask that you move away at times. Don't take any offense to it, and please be there if she needs you." The Queen looks him in the eye. "While the other squires and knights may not understand my daughter's decision, I know full well why she made you her squire. You've always had her back and always watched out for her. I don't expect anything less now. Understand?"

"Of course, Queen Butterfly." Marco says, wondering if he should bow to her. He'd never done so any other time he'd seen her, but it seemed like the squire thing to do. It just seemed so awkward though, and the Queen never seemed to make anything of it. Marco then remembers that he wanted to ask something. "Uhm... Queen?"

"Yes?"

"Is this... uhm, is it like her mewberty from before?"

 _"Smart kid."_ the Queen thinks. "Yes, Marco. There are two phases to mewberty. This is her second phase."

"So, she's trying to grab as many guys as she can, like last time? Is that normal for mewmans?"

"The second phase is a bit different from the first. And yes, this behavior of mewman girls during mewberty is normal, though it normally happens a bit later in their life."

"It's normal to have a girl flying around grabbing people?"

"We may look alike, but mewmans and humans are not completely the same. The same goes for our cultures."

"I guess..." Marco looks down for a few seconds, then looks back up at her. "Is there any way to help?"

 _"If she wouldn't hold it back so much, that would be a start."_ the Queen thinks. "It's nature for all mewman girls to go through. It can't be stopped. If I may... the library has plenty of books to look through on the subject if you're curious or want to help. I'll admit to not being comfortable talking about this."

"O-oh, sorry." Marco looks away again, embarrassed. _"The library..."_ "I guess I'll look at that then. Thank you, Queen Butterfly." Marco turns and heads towards the library. The Queen smiles as he walks away.

 _"Always looking for anything to help her. Truly the best friend one could hope for."_ she thinks. _"Not that there is anything he'll find. She needs to let mewberty happen to end it."_

Marco reaches the library and looks in at the thousands and thousands of books. The library was three floors high and filled with bookshelves everywhere except for one small area in the center of each floor, where there were tables and chairs for reading.

 _"Where am I gonna find anything in this?"_ Marco thinks.

Marco walks up to the front desk and looks up at the librarian. "Hi, I'm looking for a book on..." It only just now occurred to Marco how odd this would sound. "uh... mewberty."

Sure enough, the librarian gives him a strange look before turning to look through some files. "Er... try the second floor, 15th row, that's the biology section." Mewnian libraries were sorted by large sections. Science, math, biology, geography, etc. These then were broken down within each section to be more specific.

"Thanks." Marco turns around and quickly walks away, feeling the librarian's gaze on him. _"Awwwkwaaard."_

He climbs a spiral staircase to the second floor, walking down the rows of bookshelves until he passes one with a small silver placard that reads; '15: Biology'. He heads down the aisle, looking at a few books in each row, trying to find a mewberty section. He eventually finds it and pulls out a book called "Mewberty 101" and heads over to the tables. Thankful that there aren't many other people in the library, since it's night, he open the book and begins skimming pages. He found random bits of information across the pages; girls could not become pregnant when affected by either mewberty phase or when in mewberty form; mewberty overloads the mind of the mewman girl, making them act on instinct, with little thought; only mewman girls went through mewberty, mewman males appeared to have some form of puberty, similar to Earth males. He comes across one section talking about the specific behaviors of girls in the first phase, and the effects. Due to curiosity, he begins reading.

 _The first phase of mewberty will often show itself around the age of 14 or 15, though some girls have gone through this phase upon just turning 13. The girl will become infatuated with males, and have hearts of varying colors (different for each female) appear on their face. The girl will eventually be consumed by the hearts, and will undergo a metamorphosis, entrapping themselves in a cocoon of these heart. During this metamorphosis, the girl develops her small sousing glands within her salivary glands, which are used to souse a male, more commonly referred to as 'marking' a male. She also develop full wings, which will shrink upon reverting back to normal. When they emerge from their cocoon, they will have fully transformed into their first mewberty form. Girls in this form have the ability to create odd webs made of these hearts, and the girls tend to capture males of their age, trapping them in various places, almost as decorations. The reason for this behavior, let alone why it's only males of the roughly the same age, isn't fully understood..._

"Yeah, yeah, mostly the same stuff I already know. Except this sousing thing." Marco says quietly, skipping to the end of the page and catching one particular line. _Once this phase is complete, regardless of their age, the girl has reached the legal "age" of consent, as opposed to males, who must reach the age of 14._

Marco's face goes red at this. _"Fourteen!? Yeah, that's a bit different from Earth."_ Marco flips the page to read about the second phase.

 _The second phase of mewberty normally afflicts girls at the age of 18 or 19, with a few cases of girls the age of 17 having gone through this. This phase is very different from the first, being far more intimate. The girl will not be infatuated by every male they see, but rather a select few males, of the same rough age, that the girl is already strongly attracted to. This could possibly be even just a single male. The girl will have hearts show up on their face and, like in the first phase, will create a cocoon around them to go through another metamorphosis. Upon emerging from this metamorphosis, the girl will often not be transformed into their second mewberty form. They will emerge normal, but with an alarmingly fast-rising sex drive._

 _From that moment, the girl will find difficulty in paying attention, often her thoughts going to that of the boy(s) she is attracted to. Hearts will tend to appear on the girl's face when having these thought, or when in close proximity to those she is infatuated with. This continues until the girl transforms into her second mewberty form one night (why it only happens at night for the second phase is uncertain), usually within a week of the metamorphosis. It should be noted that there seems to be some ability to prevent this change for a limited time, but it seems to put a lot of strain and increasing sexual tension on the girl. Upon transforming, the girl will head straight toward the location of the most readily available male she is attracted to. If the girl has no knowledge of the boy's location, she will fly around, searching until one is found that suits her interests. She will take the target back to her bedroom, or trap the target in a private place near where they were found, after which she will usually bind the male and mate with them until the girl is satisfied. Due to the mewberty-afflicted girl's massively increased sex drive, this often means that the intercourse will continue throughout most of the night._

 _"What the hell am I reading right now?"_ Marco thinks. And then, _"Was... was this what Star was about to...?"_ He shakes his head and keeps reading.

 _In order to ensure that the male can continue to feed the girl's needs, the girl will consistently share with the male special pheromones that are only produced during this phase of mewberty and in the mewberty form, which is often passed through saliva (this is not the same as sousing). These pheromones cause the male to remain erect and to produce semen at a faster pace to keep up with the girl, but it doesn't give the male any form of nourishment or energy, resulting in the male quickly tiring out as the intercourse continues._

 _Once satisfied, the girl releases the boy and flies back to her room, if not already there. Upon returning to her bed, the girl reverts back to normal, and the phase is over, the increased sex drive gone and the hearts no longer appearing. The girl may, from this point on, revert in and out of this form at will, though it takes effort to maintain. They also no longer have the ability to shoot heart webbing, and they no longer drop random hearts in this form after the phase is over._

Marco stares straight ahead, his mind trying to wrap around everything he's read. _"Now I know waaaay more than I ever wanted to about mewman biology."_ he thinks.

"Mewman girls can be quite the handful." says a quiet voice. Marco turns toward the voice and sees Daqous placing a book back on a nearby shelf. "Sex is a very important piece of mewman culture. Mewberty reflects the epitome of that." Daqous walks over to Marco.

"I'm just trying to find a way to help Star, but this book doesn't say anything about how to prevent mewberty." Marco looks back at the book, skimming the rest of the page.

"There is no known way to prevent mewberty. Eventually she will have to let go and just go through it." Daqous says. Marco opens his mouth to reply, and Daqous raises a hand. "I understand that, to you, this all seems extremely odd and not right, but you must remember that you are a human looking in from your point of view. Mewmans find this normal."

"Yeah, but, Star clearly doesn't want to..." Marco says quietly.

"Ah, yes, I wonder why that could be." Daqous says with a light smile on his face.

"Can't you just tell me?" Marco sighs.

"The princess has asked me not to tell of her condition or reasons. I apologize." Daqous says simply, still smiling.

"What can I do to help?" Marco asks.

"It's mostly in her hands to decide to let it happen. Though, eventually, she will not be able to hold it anymore, anyway."

"I can't do anything?"

"Nothing that could prevent her from having to go through it, no."

"Ugh." Marco starts rereading the paragraph about the second phase as Daqous wanders off, looking through shelves for a new book.

 _"... the girl will head straight toward the location of the most readily available male she is attracted to."_ Marco can feel the heat in his face. _"That would mean..."_ She _had_ taken him. She'd taken him over Tom. Despite what had almost happened, this fact made Marco's heart flip.

 _"Wait... Oh. Ooooh."_

 _"She didn't want to go through this because she didn't want to have me, or maybe Tom, be the target. She didn't want to force us into this."_

This realization sent shivers down Marco's spine. _"So... the only way... I could help..."_ Marco's face twists as he thinks of the answer.

He'd have to have sex with his best friend. Which... he did have a crush on her, so that wasn't that awful to think about, he admitted to himself. But it was still weird. And he'd have to have sex with her as a sex-crazed, flying girl/monster. For an entire night!

Which... also didn't scare him off, actually. Sure it didn't sound like fun to be forced into that all night, but... if it helped her, he could live with that.

 _"BUT THE PROBLEMS! First, I'm only FIFTEEN!"_ Sure, that's fine in Mewni, but he hadn't grown up in Mewni. The thought was weird and awkward for him.

 _"Second, we're... we're not even together, or anything, like..."_ He got the feeling from the reading that they two didn't have to be together, or even be friends at all, it seemed the girl only had to be attracted to the boy. And that's all fine and well for Mewmans. But for Marco, that was waaaaay weird. And from what he knew about Star, she probably also thought it to be odd. How could they look at each other if they weren't together and they'd... _"And that's about enough of that thought."_

 _"Third, she and Tom JUST broke up."_ Just... No. The timing for her mewberty couldn't be worse.

 _"Yeah, not really a surprise she doesn't want this to happen now."_ Marco thinks. He rests his forehead in his hands, reading more, trying to find anything to help her...

...

...

Star lays on her bed, head facing to the side and pressed deeply into the pillow, covering half of her face. Wearing no clothes, sweat covers her entire body, and her breathing is rough and uneven. Her bed is a mess, as is her hair, and her bed's sheets are soaked. She'd just brought herself to her fourth orgasm tonight, and finally, finally, worked those needs and the heat out of her body.

 _"For now."_

And now, without her horrid mewberty distracting her for the moment, she feels tears forming in her eyes, and feels them as they start running down her face into her pillow. Her breath hitches as she starts sobbing.

"Tom broke up with me. He broke up with me. And mewberty is going to kill me. And I scared Marco, badly. I almost... What do I even say to him tomorrow? I'm losing my mind... why is everything bad happening at once? Why?"

Star continues having these thoughts, continues crying, until she finally manages to fall asleep...

* * *

Aaand, that's a wrap. Hope you enjoyed! Please review, I do enjoy reading them through. Have a good one!


	18. Support

Chapter 18. And now off to work I go. Enjoy!

* * *

Marco slowly sits up in his bed, yawning. He'd gotten back from the library a bit late, so he'd slept in. Look at the clock on his dresser, he sees that it's 10:09 in the morning. He hops out of bed and changes out of his pajamas quickly, donning his classic red hoodie and black jeans.

*knock knock*

"Yes?"

The door opens, and Star is standing there, holding her left hand in her right, looking to the side as she talks quietly, "Hey..."

"Hi." Marco smiles at her, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable. He now knew why she'd taken him last night and wanted her to know he wasn't upset at her. The smile did little to relax her, though.

"Uhm... are you... okay?" she asks, still looking to the side.

"I'm fine, Star. I understand what happened." Marco says, and Star looks at him, looks at his eyes and sees no anger or fear, and she smiles lightly back.

"You... uhm... you know?" she asks awkwardly.

"I mean, I guessed. It's not like I haven't seen that behavior before. Though, never quite... that. But I could guess." Marco laughs quietly.

Star's face turns slightly pink. "I... uh... I just... I'm sorry. I just lost control of it... Tom... he... broke up... and then... I ju-" Star's voice cuts off as Marco takes a step forward and hugs her. She feels ripples of pleasure run down her back.

"I know." Marco says quietly.

"M-Marco, don't..." Star gives a weak attempt at backing out of the hug.

"I believe you only transform at night, right? So this should be fine. And I think you really need this hug." Marco tightens the hug.

"Y-yeah but..." she trails off, unable to think of any real excuse other than that she still felt jumpy at his touch. But she _did_ need the hug, she was so stressed out, and finding out Marco wasn't upset with her was the one good thing that's happened to her in the last couple of days. After a few seconds, she hugs him back, closing her eyes as tears come out, sobbing into the shoulder of his hoodie. "I'm... sorry... I'm such... a mess..."

"No you're not." Marco says quietly. "Anyone would be upset after a break up. Just because it happened at a bad time doesn't mean you're a mess."

"I... I... almost..." Star chokes on her words, unable to get the full sentence out.

"Don't."

"But..."

"Star, do not beat yourself up."

Star falls slowly to the ground, and Marco falls with her, leaving them sitting, still locked in their hug.

"You're not... mad?..." She asks quietly.

"I could never stay mad at you. No matter what." he replies.

Star smiles into his shoulder, her tears still soaking into his hoodie. The way he'd said it, she'd heard the underlying meaning.

 _"Even if I hadn't been able to stop myself last night, he wouldn't have been upset at me. That's what he's saying."_

"Thank you..." she says quietly. She wants to add the reasons she was thanking him, for being her friend, always supporting her, always watching out for her, always understanding, and so much more... but she couldn't find the breath to say any more. Marco got the message though.

"Of course." Marco whispers. It was his job, his priority. Protecting her, helping her, was always number one. He couldn't see her hurt, nothing hurt him more than seeing her like this.

Which is why, although he knew that right now was not the time to say since they should fix up their friendship first, he was planning to tell her soon that he'd made up his mind. Whether it was simply that mewberty had caused it, or she'd had a crush on him, or if it was more than that, something made her grab _him_ last night.

If he could help her with this, then he would.

If she needed to use him to get over this, she could.

* * *

Over the next four days, Star and Marco spent a lot of time watching movies, walking around so Marco could see the outside of the castle, and patching up the holes in their friendship after the long six weeks apart. The Queen knew she couldn't ask much of Star until she got through her mewberty, having gone through it herself, and so Star mostly spent the days hanging out with Marco. Daqous, too, recognized the futility of trying to teach her in her condition, as when Star had jokingly said, "Aren't you supposed to be my and Marco's magic teacher? When are we going to learn something?", he pat her head and replied with, "When you can fit anything else in your head _besides_ those thoughts you're having right now.", causing Star's face to go cherry red, as she'd forgotten at that moment he could read minds.

Marco had finally gotten around to asking what happened to Star's right cheek, why there was a crescent moon instead of the heart. Star explained that it had come from the spell Eclipsa had cast to save Marco, that she herself had given half of her soul to do it, and that no one knew exactly what it meant. Marco was less than happy to hear that.

"What if you'd been hurt? No one knows what this could cause? Why would you do that?"

Star gave him a stern look. "I couldn't just let you die."

"I..." Marco looked away, deciding it might not be best to start an argument over this. He didn't value his life anywhere near hers, but... not only was it already done, leaving little point in arguing over it, but she didn't seem to have any negative effects from the spell. "I'm sorry... I should be thanking you..."

Star just smiled. "You'd have done the exact same thing." Both she and Marco knew that.

Over these four days that had passed since Star had abducted Marco, she had gotten very clingy. It had started off with little, normal things. Grabbing his arm and pulling him with her to something she wanted him to see. The occasional hug, which was nothing new for the two of them. It started becoming a little more obvious she was enjoying the contact over time. Not only did she hum lightly when he tapped her shoulder or hugged her, she started smoothing his hair over, when there was no problem with his hair to start with, and resting her head on his shoulder or his lap when she was tired while watching movies, hands around his shoulders or on his chest or leg.

Marco was trying his best to not take advantage of her mewberty situation, trying to keep himself under control. He _did_ plan to tell her that she could use him to get rid of her mewberty if need be, and he was waiting to fix things up between them first (which, luckily, being such close friends made the fixing up pretty easy), but he wanted to be careful about doing anything outside of that right now. She may seem very attached to him now, but he couldn't be sure if it was her doing this, or only just the mewberty causing it, and _nothing_ would be worse than her clearing herself of this mewberty and regretting anything awkward that had happened between them before she got rid of it. At the same time, he didn't want to outright stop her touches and behavior, one, because he didn't want to agitate her in this state, and he knew it was just her trying to let out her feelings in the least unhealthy way possible, and two, he... kinda liked it. What guy doesn't like hearing the girl he's crushing on hum every time he touches them, or having her lay against him?

Star always made sure she was in her room around 8:00-8:30 p.m., and Marco knew it was to avoid taking him again. With things between them seeming to be fixing up well, Marco lay in bed tonight, thinking that he would tell her about his decision the next day. He knew she was struggling to keep herself in control, and while he wasn't sure if they were back to where they had been before he'd left, he knew he couldn't stand to see her struggling anymore.

Star, laying in her own bed, could only think of the last four days with glee. She and Marco, she felt, were very much like they had been before. He'd been with her constantly, and she enjoyed her time with him.

Her mewberty, on the other hand, was harder to appreciate. She had constantly found herself thinking of the earth boy, that warm smile and those calming brown eyes that just soothed her. She knew she shouldn't be having thoughts of him the way she was, she had only recently broken up with someone else, but mewberty just made Marco so easy to bring to mind. She supposed she was somewhat thankful to mewberty for that, at least, preventing her from moping over Tom any more than she'd already moped over Marco for the past handful of weeks during his absence.

But, God, would it kill for mewberty to just relax on the insistent cravings for a few minutes? Every single time they touched at all, even just a tap, she felt her breath hitch. She'd been looking for any excuse she could find to touch him more, and every time it just made her want more. She wanted to cuddle into him, feel him pull her close, feel him peck at her neck with kisses and run his hands up and down her body.

And these were only the basics of what she wanted from him.

She knew it wasn't all the mewberty, too. Every night, after her little self-sessions, which she'd been needing more of each night, help to get the desires out of her system and keep her mewberty in line, she would lay there, thinking how nice it would be feel to have Marco's arms around her now, laying next to her, his breath on her neck, the feel of his skin on hers. She felt this need even after working herself to exhaustion, after working the mewberty out of her for the night.

And it certainly didn't help that tonight, these self-sessions hadn't helped at all. In fact, she'd felt even needier after each one.

But she _couldn't_ do it. The average mewman male may not have too much more endurance than the average human male, but they were used to a society where mewberty-driven females would take them for a night. Humans didn't have that experience, and she didn't know how well Marco would be able to take it.

And... Sex was a big part of Mewnian culture. Everyone in Mewni overlooked mewberty sex because it was nature, and no one really counted mewberty sex as sex. But having spent time on earth, she couldn't do that. She couldn't, absolutely _could not_ , have Marco be the target of her mewberty form...

... Because she wouldn't remember it. No female has anything more than hazy recollections of their mewberty forms. She wouldn't remember not just her first time, but her first time with him. How could she be okay with that? Mewman girls often already had sex by the time they reached the second phase, and if they haven't, then they ignored the fact that their first time had been in mewberty because it was normal. But Star's second mewberty had come early, and she didn't hold quite the same Mewnian beliefs now. She kept her Mewnian custom of sex being of relative importance, but had shed the belief that mewberty sex didn't count. It _did_ count to her now, and the thought of her first time being something she wouldn't recall... she couldn't do that.

So what could she do? She would go straight for him when she transforms. She couldn't send him away to try to make him unavailable, because she can both track him and has the ability to open portals in her mewberty form. There's nowhere he'd be safe while she tries to get rid of her mewberty for good. But she couldn't let it happen. She _had_ to remember it, even if they weren't to be together afterward, she couldn't allow herself to not remember being with him, taking him. And if she approached him and tried to take him to bed before going through her mewberty, she was afraid her mewberty would take control. She ponders this for a long time, laying in her bed, wracking her brain, trying to find some way to take him without transforming. not coming up with a solution.

Until she remembers something Marco had said days prior:

 _'... you only transform at night, right? So this should be fine... '_

 _"I only transform at night."_

 _"Only at night."_

Star feels a smile creep across her face. They would be watching a movie tomorrow at his house in the morning, his parents off on some trip. All she had to do... she just had to convince him. _Persuade_ him to do what she needed. She knew he was holding himself back for her sake, and she appreciated it. He could easily kiss her, do anything really, and she wouldn't complain, but he was being wary of her mewberty, not wanting to take advantage of her. She's felt him tense up every time she's held his arm or rested on his shoulder. He didn't want her actions to continue into anything more for fear that it was just her mewberty causing it.

But it wasn't just the mewberty. Not completely.

Star takes a moment to realize that she is currently thinking of how to _seduce_ her best friend. _"What am I doing?"_ she thinks, shaking her head.

Star thinks of what could go wrong. He could refuse, but she doubted he would. Even if he hadn't had a crush on her, he was _always_ willing to help her. He would fight it, though. He wouldn't just give in, he'd be skeptical if it was really her, or her mewberty doing it, and she couldn't think of anything she could say that would convince him that it was _her_ decision. So she would have to show it through action.

That was what she did best. Not words, but action. Act first and think later.

...

Though she wouldn't ever admit it, she knew what Tom had said was right. She'd never gotten over that crush, and she'd gotten together with him in order to try to forget that. She'd wanted Marco for a long while now.

She had to act soon. Before she thought about it too much. She would convince herself out of it if she waited. She couldn't not do this. Soon she would transform into her mewberty state regardless of her choice, and she had to have at least her first moment, her first time, in her memory. With him. Whether she transformed later and took him or someone else, she had to at least have this moment in her mind. And Marco's "safe kid" approach to everything was not going to stop that. Time was ticking, and for all she knew, tomorrow night she'd lose control of her condition.

"Tomorrow, that boy will be _mine_." she whispers as she drifts to sleep, a content smile on her face as she's made up her mind.

* * *

Next chapter will have some explicit materials, if you couldn't guess. So if you were, for some reason, expecting that not to happen, despite me saying so in the summary, and you are offended at the idea of it, uh... don't read the next chapter.

May take a while because of work the next three days, plus me wanting this next chapter to be really good. Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to review. Adios!


	19. Turn of Events

Warning: There be explicit content below. All ye who dislike such content have been warned. For anyone who does skip it, I'll summarize the key points in the author's notes of the next chapter.

That aside, sorry for the wait! Work 12 hours a day, three days in a row, plus 8 hours of sleep, plus food and other stuff, left little time to write. I only really worked on this yesterday and today. First time ever trying to write something like this. Hope you enjoy!

...

But don't enjoy it too much.

* * *

"Alright, I brought the cushions." Marco walks out of a portal with two large couch cushions. Star, sitting on the edge of Marco's bed, watches him and smiles. It was about noon right now, and they'd had to relocate their movie to Marco's room in Mewni, Star using magic to move the TV from there to his room, after finding out that the couch in Marco's house's living room had mysteriously disappeared.

Star glances at her wand, sitting on Marco's nightstand. _"Yeah... 'mysteriously'."_ she thinks to herself, just stopping herself from giggling. A bed was a much better place than a couch for what she had in mind today, so she _may_ have had something to do with the fact they needed to move.

Marco places the cushions on the bed, up against the wall. "There, a makeshift couch. Now we don't have to sit back against the hard wall."

Star shakes her head, watching Marco and laughing quietly to herself. Marco was very thoughtful, but she had no plans to just be sitting back and watching a movie tonight. Due to not getting any relief last night from her mewberty, she could feel the need for him shooting through her body. She'd already decided and was committed to this. She wants nothing more than to coddle this boy, to hear her name on his lips. To hear him say how much he wanted her, how much she meant to him. Nothing more than to share an incredible moment with this boy who'd done anything he could to help her and always been there when she'd needed him.

"The only one I could find that we haven't already watched is 'A Pair of Scissors'." Marco says.

"Marco, a pair of scissors isn't very interesting to watch." Star says jokingly, tilting her head at him. _"Not that it matters to me what we're going to be 'watching'."_ she thinks.

"It says it's a comedy, you usually like comedies." Marco turns the movie case over and starts reading the back.

"What?... Oh, oh!" Star laughs lightly. "Oh, the movie is called 'A Pair of Scissors'. I thought you meant we were going to watch, like, an actual pair of scissors."

"Oh yeah, did I forget to tell you I like watching inanimate objects sit still?" Marco says, giving her a 'duh' look, and Star giggles in a way that could only be described as very girly. Marco puts in the movie and hits play, then hops up on the bed and scoots back into the cushions behind him.

Star holds out her wand to make a field around them that darkens the room slightly, making it more ideal to watch the movie. _"More ideal for other activities, too."_ she thinks to herself. She then, unbeknown to Marco, also casts the same sound-proof spell that she's cast in her room already, preventing anyone outside the spell from hearing anything on the inside. She'd already locked the door before Marco got the cushions. Now there was nothing to interrupt her. She puts her wand back down on the nightstand and moves to sit on Marco's right, immediately resting her head on his shoulder and hooking her left arm around his right.

Marco's eyes dart to the side, glancing at her and blushing lightly. She was wearing the same outfit that she'd worn when they had all gone to see the soulrise; a small white top and a two layered skirt, the inner layer red and outer pink, minus the scarf she'd worn that day and the typical devil horns headband she always wore. It was a simple look that suited her, and he couldn't help but look at her. He had little idea why she had worn that when they had planned to simply watch a movie indoors, but it definitely grabbed his attention, and he could take a good guess at what she was after.

Mentally shaking his head, he looks away quickly, focusing again on the movie. Star's right hand comes up and grabs the sleeve of his hoodie, and she starts humming softly to herself. Her left arm still hooked under his arm, she slides her left hand over, resting it on his upper leg, causing Marco to tense up, staring at the screen but not really paying attention to it. Star feels a smile form on her face as she feels his shoulder tense. She turns her head slightly, mouth only an inch from Marco's ear, and asks quietly, "Is something wrong?", her breath on his ear and neck causing Marco to shiver, and he looks at her.

 _"She's not even trying to be subtle."_ Marco thinks. She'd been touchy the past few days, yes, but it had normally been closer to the end of the day, not right off the bat, and she'd not gotten quite this bad. He tries to put a little distance between them, but Star locks her hold on his arm. "Star..." he says quietly. "This isn't... I know you're struggling with this right now, but we really can't-"

"Can't what?" Star says innocently, looking into his eyes, and Marco's breathing hitches as she rests her chin on his shoulder and presses her hand harder into his leg, her eyes reflecting obvious affection and want.

"This. I can't... you..." Marco stutters. He takes a deep breath. "We should get you through this mewberty first."

Star tilts her head at him, smiling slightly. "'We'?" she says teasingly. She thought he'd said it accidentally due to being flustered. "It's my problem to get through, silly."

"I know... but..."

Star's thoughts of how to proceed in this moment completely stop as she looks at his face. "What's with the serious look?"

"I... uhm..." Marco takes in a large breath. "I was thinking... that, you shouldn't be trying to... stop yourself from transforming... just for me."

Star looks at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean... that, if you need to... do that, to get out of this mewberty... then... I could..."

Star's eyes widen slightly, thinking she's caught on to what he's trying to say. _"Wait... he's..."_

 _"Wow, this is a lot more awkward to say than I thought."_ Marco takes another deep breath and tries again, spilling out the whole sentence quickly in one breath. "I don't want to see you in this much stress anymore, so I'd prefer it if you didn't try to protect me and just let your mewberty do what it needs to." He blushes a brighter red after finishing the sentence, but didn't look away from her.

Star stares at Marco, processing what he just said. Marco looks at Star, wondering what she thought, as she didn't say anything for several seconds. "S-Star?"

 _"He just... said... He just said he'd rather..."_ Star was momentarily shocked, not expecting to have heard that. But as she thought more about it, she realized it really shouldn't surprise her. He always did that. Always put himself out to help her. Even if it'd hurt him. There was nothing guaranteed for him by letting her take him in her mewberty form, except a really rough night. He didn't get anything for it... It was just that he wanted to see her back to normal. Star feels butterflies in her stomach as she reflects over what he just said, how much this boy wanted to help her. _Her_ boy.

A smile appears on Star's face, and Marco keeps staring at her, wondering what she was thinking. "Uh... Star...?"

 _"But I can't let that happen. I have to do this... first..."_ Her cheeks flush pink. "No." she says quietly.

"No?" Marco repeats.

"I have a better idea. How about, first..." Star pushes herself up, rotating her body around Marco's arm and straddling his lap, bringing her hands up to his shoulders and looking straight at him. "... we do _this_?" she whispers quietly. She enjoys the look on his face, the bright red blush, and the way he tries not to look at her as she pulls herself closer to him, her hips resting on his groin. She enjoys the look on his face as he tries, and fails, to hold back a small groan.

"Star..." Marco was looking to the side, away from her, trying to keep his breathing in control. "We should... wait. We should wait until your mewberty is done. You... I don't know that you're thinking straight-"

"I know how I feel, Marco." she says, voice low as she slides her hands across his torso, tugging at the hoodie. "Don't act like I don't know my own feelings."

"I'm just saying-"

"Then _stop_ saying." she looks him in the eyes. "You're always thinking too much. This doesn't require that much thought. I want you, and you want me. It isn't hard." She knew she could just ignore him and continue, and ultimately he would stop arguing, but her goal wasn't to just take him and sate her desires, she wanted this to be a moment they shared. He had to be on board with it, but she just didn't know what to say to convince him this was _her_ decision.

"I don't... I don't want you to regret anything after..."

"I'll only regret this if you keep trying to be the 'safe kid'." she states matter-of-factly, one hand sliding up to the zipper of his hoodie, pulling at it lightly.

"Star." Marco says seriously, bringing his hands up to grab hers and stop her. "I'm serious."

"So am I. And while I appreciate you thinking about my feelings, I'd really prefer you just stop thinking and start acting." Star pulls her hands away.

"We need to deal with your mewberty first."

"No." Star attempts to go back to his zipper, and Marco brings his hands up to block hers.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Star."

"Because, Marco!"

"What would be so bad about waiting until this is done?" Marco intertwines his fingers with hers, both preventing her from grabbing his hoodie and making her look him in the eye as he gives her an annoyed look. "Why can't we fix your mewberty first, and then see if you still are okay with this?"

"Because..." Star closes her eyes tight and squeezes his hands. "Because I can't remember."

"What?" Marco's look softens as Star takes a deep breath.

"I can't... remember things when I'm in that state." Star looks at him, distress written on her face, and Marco regrets giving her the look he had. "I wouldn't... I wouldn't remember my... _our_ first..."

 _"Oh. So that's it."_ Marco thinks, staring at her. "I..." He hadn't expected a reason like that, nor the sincere pain in her voice that showed that she wasn't just following her mewberty's whims. "Star..."

Star shakes her head. "So I need this, Marco. I want this. I don't want the first to be... like _that_. In _that_ state. I can't... I can't let that..." she trails off as Marco lets go of her hands and puts his hands over her shoulders.

"I didn't... know... I'm sorry." Marco says quietly, leaning forward and hugging her, placing a soft kiss on her cheek. Star enjoys the warmth, placing her hands on his chest, biting her lip in response to the tingling feeling on her cheek where he'd kissed her. It felt so nice, his arms around her neck like this, holding her close. But she wanted to be closer.

After a short while, she speaks quietly, "Marco..."

"Yes?" Marco pulls out of the hug a bit to look at her.

Star smiles "I think you missed." she whispers. When Marco's face shows that he doesn't understand what she means, she leans forward and whispers in his ear. "That was my cheek. You missed my lips, silly." Star then buries her nose into the side of his neck, taking in his scent and placing small kisses just below his ear, before she starts taking long, slow licks under his jaw line, ears picking up the small noises coming out of his mouth.

"Star, someone might hear us." Marco says, looking at the door.

"I cast a spell. And locked the door. No one will know." she continues assaulting his neck with her mouth and tongue.

Marco lets out an unsteady breath as the princess continues. _"I... This still feels so weird. Not exactly wrong, but_..." Marco notices the heat of Star's skin on his neck, the burning trail left behind by her fingers as one of her hands traces his collarbone. The other hand tugs again at the zipper on his hoodie, pulling it down slowly, and Marco's body tenses as he fights his instinct to stop her. This was dangerous. Despite what she'd said, if she got through mewberty and ends up regretting this moment, their relationship would be in serious trouble. But if he stops her, she'd be even more distressed than she already was.

"Relax." Star whispers in his ear, her hot breath causing him to shift. "Stop over-thinking."

"I'm just-"

"Thinking too much." Star pulls back and looks in his eyes, face only an inch from his. 'Trust me, Marco. I know what I want. What I need. I need this. I need you. Don't think about later. Just _act_."

 _'Relax.'_

 _'Trust me, Marco.'_

 _'I need you.'_

 _'Just_ act _.'_

Star's words, the look in her eyes showing her want and her sincerity, his insistence not to let her down, and his own wants, all push Marco past his barriers, against his better judgment, and he leans forward to capture her lips with his, the princess closing her eyes and humming her approval, kissing him back and pushing him against the cushion behind him.

She finally unzips the hoodie and slides it down off his shoulders, throwing it behind her, across the room without any further thought. _"One less obstacle."_ Star pulls away from the kiss, pulling on his shoulders, and he complies, allowing her to pull him off the cushion and push him down into the bed. She grabs the two cushions leaning against the wall and tosses them off the bed before once again sitting on his groin, feeling the proof of his excitement through the panties under her skirt and his jeans. Cooing as she grinds herself softly against him, the moans coming from Marco music to her ears, she leans down and kisses him again, pressing down against his prone body as Marco grabs her waist. She feels the heat in her body causing a light sheen of sweat to break out as her body screams to take him _now_.

 _"Patience."_ she thinks to herself. She has Marco on board right now, but she knows he's still uncertain about this. He'll still have doubts about whether this was right or not, and she doesn't want to make him any more uncomfortable than she knows he already is. There's no way she was going to ruin this by going too quickly. _"I just need to ease him into this. Slow down just a bit."_

She breaks the kiss and slides her hands under his shirt, tugging it up his body. Marco allows her to take it off, and she tosses it off the bed. Sitting up atop him, she looks down at him, taking in the tight, fit stomach and chest. He didn't _look_ very muscular, not like his 30-year-old self had when she'd see him at Hekapoo's, but the karate and monster-fighting certainly kept him fit, and running her hands up his stomach and chest as she leaned back down over him, she could feel the hard muscles that were only _just_ hiding under his skin. She looks at him with a devious smile and licks her lips.

Hands on his chest, pushing her weight down into him, she can feel his heartbeat increasing as she presses her body into him and presses her lips to his throat. Marco instinctively tilts his head back, giving her more access, and she places several small kisses under his jaw. He slides his hands up her back to her shoulders, relishing the feel of her skin. Soft, with taut muscles hidden beneath that had initially surprised Marco every time they hugged, but it made sense, as she was every bit as active and physically capable as he was in the battles they'd been in. Between the feel of Star's mouth and tongue on his neck, the heat and feel of her skin, and the insistent grinding of her body into his, he's able to do little more than moan lightly, his fingers trailing circles around the backs of her shoulders until one of his hands inadvertently hooks underneath the straps of her white top.

He has a few seconds of hesitance, wondering if he should, before her words come back to him. _'Just act.'_ Marco hooks his hands into both straps and can feel Star smiling into his neck before she pulls herself up. Marco follows her, sitting up with her still straddling his lap, as he slowly peels the white top down to her hips, and Star takes a deep breath as cool air washes over her upper body. Her sweat had caused the top to stick tightly to her searing skin, and it felt amazing to have the air flow over her back and chest. She looks down at Marco, the way he was staring at her making her quiver in excitement.

Marco couldn't look away from her body. Her skin is pale and her frame is slim, stomach small and taut, hips only _just_ wider than her waist. Her stomach flows smoothly into her breasts, which was what had caught his attention the most. The two small mounds of pale flesh shine with a thin sheet of sweat, hard nipples pointing toward him from on top of her heart-shaped areolas.

 _"Heart-shaped..."_ Marco finds himself mesmerized by this simple fact, and Star giggles at him as he stares at her chest, not fully understanding the reason he's so fascinated.

"You can do more than stare, Marco." she says teasingly, and to her slight surprise, and immediate delight, Marco lets his instincts guide him as he leans forward and gives her left breast a long lick before closing his mouth around it and sucking on it. Star moans loudly toward the ceiling, her hands on his head, pushing him harder against her chest as his tongue circles around and flicks at her nipple, lapping at the heated and sweaty skin and leaving Star's body shaking.

"Y-yes... Oooh that's good..." she encourages him, and he replies by gently rolling her nipple between his teeth. After a week of holding back her mewberty, this felt overwhelmingly amazing, and Star was glad no one else could hear her as she moans loudly into the room. He pulls away slightly, bringing a hand up to massage the breast his tongue had just assaulted as he takes her other one into his mouth. He can feel a damp spot on his upper jeans, where Star is sliding her lower body along his leg, and that, on top of the sound of Star repeating his name, lets him know he's doing well as he continues to tease her right nipple with his mouth.

Eventually, though, she needs more, and Star lightly pushes his shoulders, his mouth leaving her skin and eyes looking up at her. Her fingers trail down his body until they reach the button on his jeans. Marco holds his breath, staring at Star, as her fingers work to unbutton and unzip his jeans. "Star... I... uhm..."

"Don't talk." she says briskly, knowing he was about to try to stop her. She stands up over him, leaning down and looking him eye-to-eye as she hooks her fingers into the waist of his pants and the briefs underneath. "Trust me, Marco." she says quietly, and after a few seconds, Marco gulps and nods slowly. Star pulls the last bit of the boy's clothes off, sliding them off the bed without a second thought. She takes this moment, now that she's standing, to slide her skirt and top off, as well as peel off her undergarments, throwing them all in a corner.

Marco, leaning back with his arms extended behind him for support, looks up at her, mouth open slightly and heart beating rapidly as he looks at her petite, pale, beautiful body. Before he has time to make out specific details, Star kneels down between his legs, a hand not wasting any time in finding it's way around his length, the other supporting her as she leans forward to kiss her best friend again. Her tongue dances around his lips as she begins stroking him softly, and the boy groans loudly, breaking the kiss.

"For someone who was so against this, you're pretty hard." she whispers, lips still just a hair from his, smirking with a triumphant look in her eyes. _Pretty_ hard was an understatement.

"I didn't say I didn't want this, I just-"

"Good." Star interrupts. "Then I don't want any more excuses." She increases the pace of her strokes, causing Marco to groan more, and she takes the opportunity to take his lips with hers again and snake her tongue in, muffling his groans. She stops stroking and starts dancing her fingers lightly around his cock, tracing the ridges and veins, causing him to squirm, every groan from him vibrating into her mouth.

She suddenly pulls away from the kiss and pushes him back into the mattress. "Relax, you're going to enjoy this." She slides her legs out behind her, laying on her stomach, still between his legs, leaning on her elbows as one hand reaches out and strokes his length slowly. He lifts his head, looking down at her, seeing the devious look in her eyes again. She tilts her head sideways, pressing her lips along the underside of his cock, causing Marco to lay his head back and make a sound between a pant and a groan. Star's tongue slides along his shaft, all the way up, down, up again, and then circles her tongue around the head, enjoying the taste, smell, and sounds coming from him.

She lifts her head up a bit, licking her lips before she completely envelopes his head in her mouth, tongue running along the underside of his length as she slowly takes more of him into her mouth, causing Marco to mewl breathily. "God... Star..." Star hums lightly at hearing her name, the vibrations from her throat winning another moan from Marco as Star feels his cock begin to jerk. The grinding and short handjob from earlier had already done a number on him and now he was on the verge of giving Star exactly what she wanted so badly. "Star, I-" Marco cuts off, his breath catching as Star hums around his cock again, looking up at him as she begins bobbing her head up and down slowly, eyes showing that she already knows, that she wants it.

She continues maneuvering her mouth along him until she hears him draw in a deep breath and hold it. She then closes her lips tightly around him, forcing as much of his length into her mouth as she could fit, circling her tongue around the head as she sucks hard, earning both a low, throaty groan from Marco as he's sent over the edge and multiple spurts of Marco's hot seed down her throat. She feels each burst go down her throat, knowing her body would quickly absorb every last drop and use this gift to help temporarily sate her body's needs.

She pulls her head back, releasing his cock. She could still try to coax out more of his cum, and she would love nothing more than that. But she didn't want to tire him out too much yet. _"I have a much better place for the rest of it to go_." she thinks to herself as she crawls up Marco's body, placing her arms on either side of his head and looking him in the eye. He's catching his breath, looking at her with those warm, chocolate-colored eyes, and she can see the want in his eyes.

He lunges upward, catching Star off guard as he pushes her left shoulder and locks her right arm in place, causing her to flip over onto her back, and Marco quickly flips on top of her, interlocking his fingers into hers and pinning her hands to the sides of her head. He'd decided to give in, to take her words and think about right _now_. Maybe this could hurt them later, but right _now_ she needed this, and honestly, he needed this too. He decided he wasn't going to ruin this with his constant worrying.

She looks up at him, her face clearly expressing both that she hadn't expected this and that she was eager to find out what would come next. She loved the way he was looking at her, eyes moving from feature to feature on her face and chest, as if he couldn't decide where to attack first. He lowers his head down and she feels his lips press lightly against the heart on her cheek, and then slowly the kisses moved closer to her ear until his lips were less that an inch from it. "Is this what you wanted?" he whispers breathily, making her shiver slightly.

"Yes. I want more. I want us to remember this moment forever..." Star says fervently, enjoying the feel of his chest against hers, his leg coming up and rubbing lightly against her inner thigh, teasing her leg softly.

"Well, I can't let _my_ princess down, can I?" he says quietly, moving his lips forward to lightly bite her earlobe. Star grins both from the contact and from the way he'd said that sentence. So possessively, so... hungrily, emphasizing that she was his.

"Yes, a prince should never let his princess down." she said quietly, lovingly, as her hand came up and tangled itself into his hair.

Marco heard this, _'prince'_ , the implications behind it, and it only served to drive him further. It didn't matter whether she'd meant to say it or it had been a unconscious choice of words, whether it had been her or caused by her mewberty, the word brought to mind thoughts of a future with her, where he _could_ be her prince, could be hers, and she his, and no thoughts could have made him happier.

He may not have done anything like this before, but he'd both seen videos on the internet and heard stories from students at his old school. Marco begins trailing kisses down from her neck. When he reaches her breast, he darts his tongue quickly against the hardened nub, eliciting a mewl from the mewman as he continues trailing kisses down her front, moving down her body. Star realizes where this was going, biting her lip, wishing he would just go faster. He was going so slow, and when he looks up at her eyes, the smile he gives as his lips trail past her navel let her know he was going slow on purpose. "Marcooo..."

And just as he was about to kiss her where she wanted it the most, he jumps down to her inner thigh, places a soft kiss there, and starts trailing it upwards, back toward her center. She writhes in place, and Marco pushes his hands down on her thighs to keep her in place as he continues his torture. He places a kiss _just_ next to her opening, so close he can feel the heat radiating from it, even hotter than her skin. As he approaches her core again, he can taste some of her juices. It was sweet, and it caused a tingling feeling on his tongue. And it was addicting. He laps his tongue at the juices surrounding her pussy and kisses around her core, but never touching, and after a full minute of this, Star can't take it anymore.

"Marco..."

"Yes?" he looks up at her, with a very convincing innocent smile, but she wasn't falling for that.

"Please..."

Marco's face is right in front of her core, and he looks at it admiringly as he teases her. "Please...?"

"You know what I want!" she groans loudly as his breath runs along her wet pussy. She tries to raise her hips up to his mouth, but he keeps her thighs pressed against the sheets of the bed. "Damn it, Diaz!"

He slowly rubs her inner thighs with his hands, eyes locking with hers, giving her a smirk, even as he knows he will regret this later. "What do you want me to do? Give me an order, _mi princesa_."

"I want you to kiss me there... _right now._ " Star begs in a whisper. " _Please._ "

She sees the look in his eyes change, from the devious spark to a glazed, lustful look, his smirk turning into a full smile as his eyes look down at her lower lips. She bites her lip, hard, praying that he's going to give her what she wants _right fucking now_. She'd never seen this side of him, not from this reserved earth boy, not to this extent. and seeing him with this take-charge attitude turned her on so much right now that she couldn't wait anymore. "Marco, I- _Haaahhh!_ " Star moans loudly, head tilting back, as his tongue suddenly, _finally_ , takes a long sweep along her silken passageway.

He laps at her repeatedly with slow, long licks, her taste mesmerizing on his tongue, her quivering, as well as her ragged breathing and moans, spurring him on. He quickly realizes this small, swollen nub seems to get the best reactions from her, and tests this by flicking his tongue against it quickly, hearing a delightful mix of a squeal and moan that tells him he was right. He runs the flat of his tongue up her pussy repeatedly, making sure to hit her clit on every pass, lapping at the fluids flowing out, and she writhes constantly, Marco's hands pressing on her thighs to keep her still as he continues his ministrations. Her hands ran through his hair, grabbing on tightly and pulling. Marco is unfazed, and he quickens his pace, darting his tongue up and down her heated, soaked sex as Star tosses her head to the side, eyes closed tight as she feels her orgasm coming.

"More, just a bit... don't stop, please don't stop... yeeess..." Her breath hitches, and her whole body tenses as she pulls Marco's face against her sex, his mouth closing over her clit and his tongue flicking it over and over. Star finally got what she needed, the release she needed, arching her back and letting out breathy half-moans as she feels her best friend lapping eagerly at the fluids she was squirting all over his face. She finds it hard to catch her breath as the pleasure wracks her body, and Marco wasn't going to stop running his tongue along her until she's ridden through the ecstasy.

As she finishes, she lets go of his hair, and he pulls away, looking up at her. She smiles widely, still breathing hard, sticking her hands out toward him, beckoning him. He crawls up and she wraps her arms around him, pulling him onto her body. He initially uses his arms to hold himself up over her, but she just pulls him down into her, forcing him to put all his weight on her. He revels in the feel of her soft skin against his as she says, "You're not gonna hurt me. I'm plenty strong, you know."

"I know." he says quietly. Running his hands lightly up her hips, he presses his lips against hers, and she returns the kiss with equal force, tasting herself on his lips. He pulls back, looking at her flushed face, smiling. She shakes her head.

"I thought this was your first time?" she asks teasingly.

"You know, I'm fifteen... I've... heard things." Marco says awkwardly.

"Seen things too, according to the search history on your laptop." Star smiles deviously at him and he feels his face blush pink. At any other time he'd have been extremely embarrassed to hear her say that, but given their current situation, he couldn't find himself to be too bothered by it.

"Again, I'm fifteen. Usually the about the age humans take an interest in that. In _this_." Marco smiles and kisses the crescent moon mark on her right cheek.

"Good thing we're in Mewni. This is legal here." Star runs a hand up his arm to his shoulder. _"Not that the laws on Earth would've stopped me, but..."_ She looks directly at Marco. "Are you tired?"

Marco shakes his head. "Not at all."

"Good." she licks her lips, then continues, whispering as seductively as she could as she looked him in the eyes. "Then I want you to show me how much you want me, right now."

Marco's gaze locked with her light blue eyes, and before he realized what he was doing, he'd propped himself up on his hands, leaning over her, his manhood sliding against her slick opening, pressed between his stomach and her folds. He couldn't help it, he'd already decided to see this through, and the look she gave him, the expectancy and need in her eyes... he just couldn't stop himself. His logical side was screaming at him, to stop, slow down and think about this. But he was acting on instinct, as she'd wanted him to, acting on his desire to not only have her, but to help her, to see that want in her eyes turn to bliss. He was only human.

She smiles up at him, happy that he hadn't argued, her arms wrapping around his neck as she pulls him down into a kiss, her tongue sliding against his, wrestling with it. She pulls away quickly, only to say "Show me." before re-attacking his lips, her hands sliding down his front, eagerly grabbing his cock and positioning it along her, silently begging him to push, just a little more, just one small push forward. She hadn't expected it to happen like this, she had been sure she'd be the one on top, having to convince him that this was all fine, so this turn of events was a nice surprise, and she had no problem at all with leaving this in his hands.

Marco pushes his hips down slightly, moaning into her mouth as he slowly burrows into her, the heat inside her burning away at his cock. Star's legs come up to wrap themselves around his body as she breaks the kiss, their eyes locking as they both hold their breaths. Once his length is fully hilted inside her, Star lets out her breath with a small laugh. Her body was so sensitive right now, due both to mewberty and Marco's behavior turning her on so much, and she can feel every pulse and twitch of him inside her, feel him fill her up with his stiff rod, then feel empty as he pulls back, only to push back into her again, making her squeal in delight. She grabs his shoulders, gripping tightly, her nails digging into his skin lightly.

He begins a slow rhythm, and she pulls his shoulders down to hers, his head next to hers, feeling his chest against her breasts and as he made love to her. This was amazing, she'd never felt so good, all her self-sessions using her fingers or magic _never_ could have been so satisfying.

But she needs more. He's being too gentle with her. "Marco..." she breathes out into his ear.

"Star..." he answers softly between moans.

"I'm not *pant* made of glass. *sigh* Don't be afraid, mmhmm~, to be rough. I want it." she says, her voice breaking with each of his thrusts. She tightens her leg's hold on his lower body, and after a few seconds, he stops his thrusts, only the tip inside of her now, and she lets out a soft mewl of disappointment.

He looks at her eyes, speaking softly. "Are you sure? I don't... I mean, I know you can't get pregnant during mewberty, but..."

 _"Ah, there's the Marco I know. Always too worried."_ she thinks to herself. She licks her lips before replying. "I _want_ you to lose control. I want you to let go and enjoy yourself, to screw my brains out. And I want all of your seed, as much as possible, inside me." Her voices drops to a husky whisper. "Every." She pulls his head down to her. "Last." Her legs tighten around his body again. "Drop." She presses her lips against his briefly. "Don't hold back for my sake. It's the last thing I want." she adds, smiling up at him...

... before her head tilts up and her eyes roll back, screaming in pleasure as Marco immediately thrusts hard into her. And again. And again. His starts a rapid rhythm as her nails dig into his shoulders again, this time piercing the skin, drawing small droplets of blood. She looks up at him, the concentration on his face evident as he focuses on pleasing the girl he loves. How was he supposed to control himself with this beautiful, sexy girl literally begging him for this, when it seemed every word she said, every moan, pant, and sigh was made to drive him absolutely crazy? He'd wanted to make sure she was okay with it, okay with the inevitable outcome of him losing himself completely in this, and the way she'd answered... he smiled in spite of himself. She knew how to pull his strings a bit _too_ well, and he was, surprisingly, not as worried about that as he thought he should be.

Sweat drips off Marco's body onto Star's, mingling with her own, as he continues pounding the gorgeous creature under him. The way she clamps around him feels too good, especially for a boy who'd never experienced anything like this before. Tight, wet, and hot as a furnace, he knows he won't be able to hold out long. It didn't help that Star was kissing his neck, whispering that she needed this, that she wanted him. He tries, he really tries to hold out, but before long both of them can feel him twitching relentlessly inside her. "Star." he moans quietly.

"Do it." she coos quietly, her head now on the pillow, facing to the side, trying her best to handle the sheer pleasure he was giving her. She pulls him deeper into her with her legs and hears his long, guttural moan as he finally fires off load after load of his seed into her.

She could literally feel each spurt inside her, hitting her walls and filling her up. Her pussy greedily latches onto his cock, squeezing out as much as possible. Her body would take each drop that it could possibly wrench from him and absorb it into her inner walls, using it all the same way the semen that she'd swallowed had been used, helping her stave off her transformation.

Marco leans his full weight into her, breathless, as he feels her chest rise against his, her nipples pressing into his skin, her skin no longer hot to the touch as his body was now just as heated. Marco shakily places both hands on the mattress and pushes himself up off of her upper body, still breathing raggedly, looking at her with a sheepish grin, still buried deep inside her. "Sorry, I... I couldn't hold out..."

Star giggles at him. "Don't be, it was wonderful." She closes her eyes and hums lightly as he leans down to kiss her cheek. "This is the least stressed I've felt since my mewberty kicked in."

"Still not enough, though?"

Star's turn to give an awkward smile. "Sorry for being so needy. I know you must be..." she trails off as he moves slightly inside her. "Or... not." She just now notices how hard he still is, which somewhat surprises her, as she'd heard from hushed whispers of the less proper crowd around the school on Earth that normally males could go once or twice consecutively before tiring out for a while, about the same as mewman males, _especially_ on their first time. And here was Marco, ready to go again, to give her a third gift today. She is by no means upset that Marco seems to have more energy and gives him a seductive smile. "Still not enough, huh?" she asks teasingly.

"I... Yeah..." Marco didn't really know why himself. He was sure he'd have to rest, he'd felt so tired after that, and he'd felt as though he had no more semen to give, but as he hovers over her, looking at her pale body and face covered in a sheen of sweat, those amazing blue eyes, staring at him both lustily and lovingly, he finds his energy returning, his work still not done, and his stiff rod twitched, seemingly agreeing. He pushes into her slightly, causing a small coo to escape her lips.

"Well, I'm not complaining, Diaz." Star says, giving him a smirk. "And don't start off treating me like I'm delicate now, 'safe kid'."

"You're nowhere near delicate, Star," he admits. "But you are valuable to me. I just... don't want to do something wrong."

"Right now, you're doing everything right." she says, placing her hands on his cheeks. "I really appreciate your cautiousness, but it wouldn't hurt to see more of this side of you." She looks at him, eyes wide, pecking his lips. "I'm ready." By now her body should have already taken in all of his last load.

 _"God, how would I ever be able to say no?"_ It now, ever-so-slightly, scared him just how easy it was for her to get in his head. Marco lifts himself off of his arms, his length never leaving her, and presses his hands on her thighs, spreading them wider as Star looks with surprise at his actions, mouth slightly open, breathing shallow as she watches him. It made her feel so great to know that _she'd_ done this to him, that her typically reserved, careful boy was now acting so dominant simply because she'd wanted him to.

Marco pulls back slightly, leaving only the head inside her, and takes a deep breath, seeming to think. Star wonders if he's having doubts again, and she's about to talk when he then moves, literally slamming his hips into hers, the loud sound of skin slapping on skin ringing in her ears as she grabs the sheets and mewls loudly. He looks at her, ensuring that she wasn't hurt, seeing the shock mixed with anticipation in her eyes, and he repeats the movement, just as hard, eliciting another load moan from Star.

He continues to thrust as hard and fast as he can into her, and Star screams his name aloud repeatedly, her sensitive nerves causing her mind to go blank due to pleasure and able to do little more than moan and yell. She would be pushed backwards by the force of his thrusts if he wasn't pinning her thighs to the bed with his hands, leaning forward to put all his weight on her legs as he pounded her senseless. The sounds of her moans, of their skin slapping together, and the squelching noise her dripping pussy makes with each thrust are all that can be heard in the room.

She couldn't believe this was the same Marco that had been her best friend for so long. She'd wanted him to lose himself in this moment, to go all out and not hold back, but she'd never imagined it would be like this, and it was _sexy_. The way he's holding her down and devastating her, how he's only focusing on the one spot she needs him the most right now. It was so much more than she could have ever expected from him, and she had already expected a lot.

Marco had cleared his mind of everything, save the girl under him right now. He stops just long enough to move his hands to her waist, experimentally pressing his weight into her, noticing she doesn't flinch, and then continues his attack on her womanhood. Now free from his grip, her legs come up, feet digging into the sheets as Star uses them as leverage to raise her lower body slightly, allowing him better access as he pummels her. Marco remembers earlier and moves his right hand to press on her lower stomach, his thumb reaching down to rub at her clit, and Star absolutely loses it, tossing her head side to side, pulling her handfuls of the sheet up, small trickles of drool running down her cheeks. Her breaths are just small pants now, each pant is her saying a single word, and she's including some profanity that he'd never heard her say, and had never imagined he'd hear her say, but drives him on nonetheless.

"God, yes, yes, yes, don't, stop, fuck, yes, more, keep, going, fuck, please, don't, stop, so, good..."

Juices from her lower lips splash out of her, soaking the sheets beneath them, and Star squeals as she both feels her own orgasm approaching and feels Marco's cock twitching and pulsing, signaling it was ready to fire off it's third load today. Star's breathing shallows even more as she brings her legs up around his waist again, her feet hooking together, her strong legs locking him in a death grip.

Her breath catches, and then she releases a loud, drawn-out scream as she reaches her climax, her pussy tightening intensely around the boy's cock, and the sensations overwhelm him as he thrusts one last time, Star's legs pulling him as deep as he can go, the tip of his head kissing her cervix as he blasts his seed, filling her with his semen again. He opens his mouth to scream, but no sound comes out, the sensations destroying his ability to make any sound aside from ragged gasps and breaths, her contracting pussy demanding that he dump every thing he has into her. He collapses onto her, and she immediately wraps herself around his upper body too, her legs and arms keeping him still as he continues firing off loads into her, albeit all much smaller than the initial one. She feels each spurt, each twitch of his rod, and a smiles slowly rises on her face.

She knows that what Marco has done to her has ruined normal males for her for good. He was going against her mewberty cravings, and while she would never calm these feelings unless she transformed, she felt her cravings being put on hold. They were still there, she could go plenty more rounds with Marco right now, but they were so much weaker than they'd been almost all week, this boy actually successfully beating her needs back for a while, something she'd never heard of before. Of course, most mewman girls didn't have the problem she was having, as they simply just transformed. But the fact that her mind was so clear now, still with her physical needs, but significantly weaker, was amazing, especially since it had almost been solely his work. She'd done little work, except talk him into it.

Star thinks back to Marco's offer of letting her use him to end her mewberty. _"I'm going to have to eventually."_ She really doesn't want to. However good his endurance is doesn't really matter, it was going to be tough on him. But he was easily proving he could handle it better than any mewman boy of their age. _"I could mark him, it would make it a bit easier... But..."_

Her train of thought is interrupted by the feel of lips on her cheek. Marco had caught his breath, though he was still breathing heavily, and was now tracing the crescent moon on her cheek with his lips. She releases him and he rolls off of her, resting on his side and looking at her. She stays on her back, looking sideways at him, smiling widely. "That was amazing..." she breathes out quietly.

Marco smiles back. "Good." he says simply, and she can tell he's tuckered out.

"Remind me never to call you 'safe kid' again."

"Oh, you will anyway."

Star giggles quietly.

"How are you feeling?" Marco asks.

"Much better." she closes her eyes, turning on her side and snuggling into him, her arm snaking around his torso and her head nuzzling into his neck, making herself comfortable against him. He reaches his arm around her back, careful not to touch her wings, pulling her into him. It's amazing to both of them how easily their bodies fit together.

"Really?" he says skeptically. "No cravings at all?"

"There's always going to be cravings until this ends." she says quietly.

"Right... uhm... about what I said earlier..."

"..."

"Star, I mean it. I don't want you having to deal with this just because you're worried about me. I'll be fine."

"I know. It'll suck for you, but I know you can take it. I just don't want you to _have_ to take it." she looks up at him.

"I don't want you to have to suffer more." he replies simply, pecking his lips against her nose, and she scrunches her nose in response.

"I know..." Star trails off, looking away, lost in thought.

Marco decides not to press the matter further right now, instead running his hand through her hair, yet again enjoying her soft skin pressed against him. He runs his hand softly down her back, lightly tracing the spot where her wing connects to her back, and she recoils immediately, tensing her body as she looks back up at him, eyes wide.

"D- Did that hurt?" Marco doesn't know what to make of the sudden reaction.

Star looks at him for a few seconds before replying, "N- no, it's fine. I just... wasn't expecting it." she looks away again, face burying into his chest as she hides her smile from him. "Please keep going, just be careful, it's a sensitive area."

Marco hesitates, then touches the base of her wing again. He feels her taking deep breaths as he's tracing the skin around her wings. The skin is very soft around her wings, and he traces small circles around it.

"Marco."

"Star?"

She gets up on her knees, pulling on his shoulder to bring him up with her to a sitting position. She leans over him, her hands on his cheeks, locking his head in place as she kisses him. Her tongue presses against his lips, and he allows entrance. Star perfectly melds her lips into his, leaving no small gap, and she pools together saliva and another liquid and allows it to flow into his mouth. Upon tasting the sweet liquid, he opens his eyes immediately, wondering what this is. _"Is this... is this her pheromones? Is she trying to get another round out of this?"_ The thought slightly worries him, though he knows he will let her do it if it's what she needs, but it also makes him curious as to how this would make him feel. Her eyes reassure him that it's okay, and he drinks the sweet nectar, feeling it slide down his throat, leaving a slight chilling feeling behind. After about ten seconds of taking in the liquid, she appears to have stopped sending more, and she pulls away, pushing him back down and laying down next to him again, cuddling into him tightly.

"Star, what was that?" Marco asks, confused, and somewhat relieved, that she was simply cuddling with him again, having expected her to get ready another session.

"I marked you."

"You... what?"

"It's something called marking. Or, uh... technically it's sousing, I think."

Marco remembers the term from the books he'd read, but he'd never looked up what that meant. He'd only read that it was something mewman girls could do from their first mewberty phase. "What does that do?"

"Later... after I sleep." she says sleepily, her head resting on his chest.

Marco laughs lightly. "It's only, like, one or two o'clock in the afternoon, Star." He couldn't believe that she was really tired, having expected her to still be full of energy due to her mewberty.

"You did a good job today, silly, I'm tired now." It was true, while she still had the drive and _could_ still force out more rounds from him, and she was sure he wouldn't say no, she _was_ still tired. And she knew he was, too. She wouldn't feel right about using her pheromones to force more out of him. Three loads from him and two full orgasms were more than enough to hold herself back easily for the rest of today and probably most of tomorrow.

"Alright." he says simply, smiling. He runs his hand through her hair again, making her hum happily as she listens to his heartbeat. Her back is facing upwards as she lays on his chest, and he admires the look of her bare, smooth back, shoulder blades barely pointing out, and her small, purple wings sticking upwards. He runs the hand that's not in her hair down her back, lightly touching the wings. He hears Star take a deep breath again, but she doesn't say anything. He runs his finger lightly, scared to hurt them. He knows they must be less fragile than they appeared to be, as she lied on her back all the time and there was no damage to them, but he can't help but be extremely careful as he touches them. Star sighs happily, clearly more than content with the attention to her wings, hiding her smile from him.

If Marco had known a little more about Mewni culture, he'd have realized what the implications of this moment were, and understand her initial shock at him touching her wings.

Though some mewman girls may flirt around and engage in various sexual acts with various mates, the wings were an extremely important part of their body, and, for the most part, completely off limits.

In Mewni, a girl only let her lover, the one she has chosen to stay with for the rest of her life, freely see and touch her wings.

* * *

That's that. Hope you enjoyed, but didn't enjoy too much. Feel free to review. Have a good one!


	20. Mark

Hey, back with the next update. Now, chapters will probably be slower, I've got a lot of stuff to do right now. Still will be updating relatively frequently, though.

Also, I think some people sometimes get confused with my formatting so I'm gonna just put this out there:

"Formats like this, with double quotation marks, is what a character is saying."

 _"Formats like this, italicized double quotation marks, are character's thoughts."_ If you see a thought and talking in the same paragraph, it is the same character for both speaking and thinking, in the case I don't annotate both.

 _'Formats like this, italicized single quotation marks, are a character recalling a quote from someone/something else.'_

 _ **"Formats like this, bolded and italicized double quotation marks, are things said via any form of telepathy, such as the being Daqous speaks with in chapter 12, as well as spell incantations."**_

Just so it's cleared up for future chapters.

Also, each arc will be 11 chapters. 11 is my lucky number lol. So this is the third to last chapter of this arc. After this, I'm going to make some extra chapters before the third arc. Extra chapters will be stuff that will happen between this arc and the next, or give extra background info. Basically stuff that I want written out, but don't want to be within an arc, and I'll have 'Extra:' in front of all of them, so you'll now that it's not the start of the next big arc.

And finally, as I said I'd do for those who didn't want to read the last chapter, a short summary of it: They had sex in Marco's room. Marco told her he wanted help clear her mewberty, Star didn't answer to it yet. Star souses (marks) Marco. She also lets him touch her wings (which in Mewni, only lovers whom the girl has decided to spend their life with are allowed to touch the mewman girl's wings). Pretty sure that's the important bits.

With that all said, enjoy!

* * *

Star's eyes slowly open and she stares ahead for a bit, waiting for her eyes to adjust after just waking up She hears the steady thumping of Marco's heart against her ear, and she smiles to herself. She looks up and sees that Marco is looking down at her. "Rise and shine, Star." he says quietly.

She sticks her tongue out at him playfully, and then asks, "What time is it?"

"Well, I would've checked, but I really didn't want to disturb the sleeping Butterfly." Marco jokes, and Star shakes her head lightly.

"Well, isn't that nice of you." she says quietly. She kisses his cheek lightly and, reluctantly, pulls herself away and sits up, looking for a clock. "Marco, where's your clock?"

"I've just used my phone to tell time since I've been here." Marco lifts himself up to a sitting position as well.

"Well, where's your phone?"

"It was in my pocket, uh, which is..." Marco trails off, looking around the room. "Somewhere..."

Star giggles lightly, also looking around. "Whoops." Looking at the clothes she'd thrown around the room, her face flushes slightly as she tries to remember where she'd thrown his pants earlier. "My bad." she says innocently, smirking at him.

She moves off the bed, picking up her clothes and putting them on. Even though the clothing had been damp from sweat earlier, they'd dried while she'd been asleep, and she couldn't exactly walk to her room wearing nothing in order to get clean clothes, so this would have to do until she got back to clean up and change. She then notices and points to something under the foot of the bed.

"Found it." she says, walking over to his jeans on the floor, fishing the phone out of his pocket. "It's... 7:34. We probably missed dinner." she groans.

Marco laughs softly, sitting up and wrapping up in a blanket to feel a little less embarrassed about the fact he wasn't wearing anything. "You can go shower and stuff. I'll grab some food and bring it up."

"Oh, I have the beeeest squire." she says very dramatically. She walks up and hugs him. "Thank you, Marco. I know this was weird for you. It means a lot to me."

"Of course, Star." he replies. "So... about your mewberty form..."

"We'll talk about it later, okay?" she says, pulling out of the hug and smiling at him.

He can't help but smile back. "Alright."

Star walks toward the door, yelling "Now go get me food!" She opens the door and walks out, then pokes her head back in to quietly add, "Preferably with some clothes on, though." Her smirk is the last thing he sees as she slips away and closes the door. Marco just shakes his head, smiling.

 _"That girl... is certainly something."_ he thinks, shaking his head as he heads to his bathroom.

After showering very quickly and changing into a clean set of black jeans and a hoodie, and checking himself in the mirror to make sure he didn't look like a mess, Marco heads out of the room. Passing by a courtyard on the way to the kitchen, he hears a voice call his name. He turns around and sees Daqous walking casually into the hallway from the courtyard.

"Hey Daq." Marco gives a little wave.

"You and Star seem to have been missing most of the day. Enjoy the movie?" Daqous says with a sly smile.

"Yeah, we... uh..." Marco starts, then remembers that Daqous can read into people's thoughts. Marco just stares at Daqous awkwardly, and Daqous laughs.

"That's about the face I expected." Daqous puts his hand to his mouth as he tries to stop his laughing.

"I look fine, right? Like, no one can tell?" Marco asks as his face goes slightly red.

"Yes, yes, you look the same as always. Not even the slightest smell." Daqous finally lowers his laughing to small chuckles.

Marco's face goes brighter red at the last statement. "Okay, cool. Just... Shh! I'm going to go get food." Marco turns and walks away quickly, embarrassed.

"Good bye, Marco." Daqous says. _"Oh wait... His mark..."_ Daqous sees what is about to immediately happen, and he opens his mouth to call Marco, but then decides against it. _"Ehh, looks like he'll learn about the mark the more awkward way."_ He shrugs his shoulders and walks away.

Marco turns the corner, and straight in front of him is the Queen and King, walking down the hall. The King sees Marco and raises a hand, signaling him over. "Is Star alright?" the King asks. "You two weren't down to eat with us."

"Yeah, she's okay. I'm actually grabbing food for her right now." Marco says quickly.

The Queen smiles and nods. "Thank you, Marco."

"Of course, Queen Butterfly." The Queen and King turn to continue on their way past Marco, the Queen taking a deep breath.

And then she stops dead in her tracks. Marco is at the door to the Kitchen when he hears her speak.

"Marco?" she turns toward Marco, and the King looks up at her, wondering what was up.

"Yes, Queen Butterfly?" Marco turns around to see the Queen staring at him with a questioning look.

She walks closer to him and takes another deep breath through her nose. Marco looks up at her, wondering what was going on. "Uh, i- is there something you need, Queen Butterfly?"

She stops about three paces from Marco and takes another deep breath, through her mouth this time, and her face changes from a questioning look to a wide-eyed, shocked expression.

And Marco knows that she knows what had happened between him and Star, though he isn't quite sure how she knew. Marco can't think of anything to say as the Queen's face shows part anger, part shock, and Marco freezes in place at the look in her eyes.

After a full ten seconds of this, the King walks up to Moon. "Dear?" he says quietly. He's fully aware that something is up, though he doesn't know what, and he just wants to break up the tension. "Let's go."

"Star is in her room, correct?" the Queen asks.

"Uh, y- yeah... she's showering, right now..." Marco says in broken sentences.

"Is she going to bed so early?"

"Uh... she was... just asleep..."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah..."

Queen Moon continues her death stare until King Butterfly grabs her hand, and she looks over at him.

"Dear." the King says, the look on his face telling her to calm down.

"Very well." Moon takes a deep breath, gives Marco one last look, angry and, oddly, a bit worried. She then turns around, walking down the hallway with the King.

Marco slips into the kitchen, out of their view, standing on the inside of the door and just thinking. _"Yep. All mewman girls are scary. Oh, I don't like that look she gave me..."_

After a while, Marco finally moves, scanning the kitchen for any simple food he can just grab and head back to Star with. _"Should just get something and head back so I can tell Star about... that."_

 ***Meanwhile...***

"So... what was that, dear?" King Butterfly asks as they walk. The Queen makes a right turn, and he follows, knowing that she's heading straight to Star's room.

"He was marked." she says briskly.

 _"Oooh... didn't expect that."_ the King thinks. "By... Star?"

"Yes."

"I... see..." the King picks up his pace to keep up with Queen Butterfly, who is storming down the hall at a very fast walking pace. "Dear?"

"What?" she says irritably.

"You're aware that's her choice, right?"

Moon stops and turns to River. "She-!" Moon yells, then catches herself and lowers her voice. "She's fifteen! She shouldn't have marked someone already!"

"I... I get that, Moon." the King says. "But... it's done. I just don't want you storming in there without sitting on this a little bit and thinking."

"You should be furious! This is our daughter!"

"I'm not happy to hear this either, dear..." River pauses for a moment, then continues. "But... I'm just saying... it's... done. And it is her choice. Try to... at least listen to her. You and Star never listen to each other at all when you two argue."

Moon takes in a breath to reply, but can't think of anything to say. She puts her hands together as she lets off a frustrated breath. "I really, really hate that you're right."

"Just try to listen to her, and try to not scream."

The Queen turns around without replying, and River just sighs as he follows behind. Upon reaching the staircase to Star's room, she looks over at River. "I'm sure Marco is heading back here. Don't let him through while I'm talking to her."

"Yes, dear." the King smiles lightly. "Don't start a yelling match please."

"Mmm." Moon walks up the stairs, leaving River to sit on the bottom stair.

 _"Ah, she can cause so much trouble."_ the King sits back against the stairs, relaxing.

...

 _"And, as she said, there's Marco."_ the King thinks to himself a minute later, seeing Marco turn the corner into the hall, carrying a box of Captain Blanche's Sugar Seeds, one of the many boxes that Marco had brought over from Earth earlier, since it was Star's favorite. As Marco is walking closer, he looks at River and realizes that the Queen is probably already there. Just as he's about to head up the stairs, River speaks up. "Nope."

"What?"

"Can't let you go up."

"Uh..."

"Wait here."

Marco looks at the King oddly, then moves to the side and leans against the wall awkwardly.

River looks over at Marco. He wasn't too happy about learning that Star had marked him, admittedly, but he also wasn't too surprised to hear it. _"Besides..."_ he thinks to himself. _"She could've chose worse."_

"So, Star marked you?" the Kings asks, voice slightly tense.

"Uh... yeah... I don't really know what that means..." Marco looks to the side, avoiding eye contact.

"Wait, Star didn't tell you?"

"Not yet..."

 _"He doesn't even know what she's done to him? No wonder he looked so shocked when Moon found out and was staring him down."_ the King laughs softly, prompting Marco to look up at him.

"What?" Marco asks.

"Nothing, nothing at all." the King waves his hand at him, stopping his laughs. "Was this after she dealt with her mewberty?"

"Uh... not really... she's still going through it." Marco says as he thinks, _"Wow, King River really doesn't seem that upset about this."_

"Hm."

"Yeah, she just marked me after... that." Marco says awkwardly.

"After... what?" River looks at him questioningly.

"Uh... after..." This wasn't something Marco was really comfortable saying out loud to Star's father.

 _"What is he talking about? After..."_ the Kings eyes widen. "You... you slept with my daughter?" the King glares at him accusatorily.

 _"What? I thought the Queen told him that already? He didn't know?"_ Marco thinks to himself. _"No wonder he wasn't angry then..."_ Marco thought the Queen had realized they'd had sex. He didn't know that she'd only known he was marked. "I... uh..."

"You, what?" the King says in a low voice.

"..." Marco says nothing, but the look on his face gives the answer away.

"..." the King stares at him, then finally says, "You have a thirty second head start."

"I- what?"

"Run."

"Uh..." Marco looks at River, confused, and then his face changes to shock as he registers what he meant, and he stops leaning on the wall. _"Oooh, I'm gonna get it now..."_

"Twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-two." the King counts down.

Marco's initial instinct is to get as far away from River as soon as possible, but as he thinks things through, he knows he A) won't ever outrun King River and B) can't just avoid Star's parents forever since he's Star's squire, so even if he hid himself away somewhere right now, it wouldn't do much good. So Marco just stands there, looking at the King fearfully as he counts down.

"Ten, nine, eight, you're not making a lot of progress, Marco." the King says as he stands up.

"I... I'm not... Just don't make it so bad that I can't get these to her. I told her I was bringing her food." Marco puts the box of cereal down.

The King walks over to him, and Marco closes his eyes tight...

And River flicks his forehead. Which, granted, felt like someone had chucked a billiard ball at Marco due to River's strength. Marco puts a hand over his forehead, trying to rub out the pain, body still tense for the next hit. But when no other hit comes, Marco opens his eyes and sees River walking back to sit on the stairs.

 _"Wait, that's it?"_ Marco thinks, now very confused.

The King looks straight ahead down the hall, suppressing a smile. Oh, he was extremely not okay about learning that her daughter had slept with a boy. If it had been in her mewberty form, it would've been different, as mewmans didn't really count that, since in that situation it was necessary for mewman girls. But at any other time... And he would make sure that Marco knew he wasn't happy with it.

 _But_... he couldn't really dislike Marco, remembering him helping at the castle when Moon and Star had been gone, and how Marco hadn't left Mewni to help Star in a battle that wasn't his to fight. His care for Star was painfully obvious, and River, again, wasn't altogether too surprised at this news. Not happy, but... not extremely angry, either. Uncomfortable, mostly. River also respects the fact that Marco hadn't run off just now. _"And anyway, they are of the age that they can make these choices."_ River thinks.

 _"Of course, no boy is good enough for my daughter."_ he continues to think to himself, glancing at Marco out of the corner of his eye. _"... But she could have chose worse."_

And so a large gap of silence falls as the King stares straight ahead, lost in thought, while Marco is standing against the wall, still rubbing his temple, feeling very awkward at this whole situation.

 ***Star's room***

"Did you at least ask him before you marked him? Did he know what that meant?" Queen Moon asks Star, the frown on her face deepening as she looks at Star's face, the answer written on it. They were both sitting on Star's bed, and Star had lightly gone over what had happened earlier. The Queen, though a bit uncomfortable with them having slept together, was not as upset about that as the fact Star had marked Marco. Moon grew up in Mewni, with Mewni customs. Sex at Star's age was legal, normal, and relatively common. Of course, Moon was still upset about it. But marking... that was a different story.

"I... I was..." Star sighs loudly. "No... I didn't..."

"Star..." the Queen shakes her head.

"I... Mom, I just..." Star breathes out and looks away.

"This affects him greatly, you know?"

"I know..."

"And you've used your mark. You can only do that once."

"I know." Star looks away.

"Star... What happens if this doesn't work out?"

"I... It will."

"How can you be sure?"

"I... just know." Star says, looking back at her mother.

Moon sighs and shakes her head. "You... need to tell him."

"I was going to."

"Good." Moon gets up and walks toward the door, turning to look at Star after reaching for the handle. "I... I'm just... trying to look out for you. And I'm concerned for him, too. But... if you two do... have this work, then it's not... as big a deal. I just wish you'd waited. Marking him... now..."

"I know... Sorry..."

"Just... make sure to tell him."

"I know..."

Queen Moon nods her head, walking out of the room, leaving Star frowning on her bed.

 _"Of course she's right."_ Star thinks. _"I don't even know if we will work out. What if we don't... That was so dumb of me... But..."_

 _"It felt right..."_

The door opens a moment later, and she sees Marco walk in, holding a box of her favorite cereal. Star smiles widely. "I thought you were trying to convince me that sugary food isn't a meal."

"Eh." Marco smiles back. "I just wanted to grab something quick and head back up to... tell you that your mom... well, you know..."

"Yeah, I forgot to tell you about what the mark is when we woke up..." Star looks away from Marco, her smile dropping a bit.

"You okay? Did you and your mother fight over this? She gave me a pretty... scary look earlier. And just now when she came down the stairs."

"Kinda... not really... I don't know..."

Marco puts the cereal box on her nightstand and sits next to her on the bed. "Star?"

Star stays silent for a few seconds, and then she frowns, still not looking at Marco. "I'm sorry. Marking you was selfish of me."

"What do you mean?" Marco looks at her with a worried face, concerned as to why she seemed so down.

"So... marking..." Star starts, turning to look at him. "Marking is when a mewman girl uses a special gland that we develop in our first mewberty. It's that liquid that I... yeah..."

Marco nods his head.

"So... It... kinda changes the target's body a little bit." she continues, and Marco raises an eyebrow. "First off, it... mewman girls have a sixth sense. It lets us sense every pheromone around us. We can 'sense' the pheromones by breathing them in."

Marco nods again, thinking that he knows where this is going. _"That's how..."_

"So... the marking... mewman females can only mark once. It... uh, the mark makes your body produce a unique pheromone, unique to me... and all female mewmans can tell." Star looks in his eyes, and sees that he understands.

"That's why it's called marking. Every female mewman knows you marked me. Including your mom..."

"Right. And... they'll feel a bit uncomfortable when in a very close proximity to you, because of that pheromone..." Marco looks at Star questioningly, and she continues. "Like, super close. Like a little less than an inch away. It's, um... It makes them uncomfortable when they get that close, even other species' females won't feel too comfortable, even though they may not sense the pheromone... And so... because of that..." Star can't bring herself to finish the sentence, but luckily for her, Marco follows the logic.

"It prevents the marked person from being with other partners. It... literally marks the person as... belonging to that female." Marco says, slightly shocked. It made some sense, in a way. He'd noticed that in Mewni, the females tended to be in charge, unlike on Earth. But this kind of... ability, for lack of a better term, was so... possessive. A marked person would make other females uncomfortable by being close to them, making relationships with other girls difficult if the female mewman and the person they marked didn't stay together. _"That's why she's so upset..."_

Star nods her head, her face upset and looking like she's holding back tears. "I'm sorry... I should've asked you first... I'm so sorry..." A few tears roll down her cheeks. "I just... I... It wasn't fair of me to just-" she freezes as Marco pulls her into a tight hug.

"It's fine, Star." Marco reassures her. He couldn't bear seeing her cry.

"But... what if... if we don't..."

"Star. Remember when you told me I needed to stop worrying so much about what may or may not happen?"

"..."

"Do you like me?" Marco asks quietly.

"I... of course I do..." Star slowly hugs him back.

"Then let's get your mewberty fixed, and then we can see if you and I work out, if you want."

"I..." Star laughs nervously. "Okay."

"No point worrying about something that's already done."

"Yeah... Thank you, Marco..." Star says, giving him a small squeeze.

"So..." Marco pulls away to look at her. "Is that all the mark is?"

"Uh... heh, no." Star smiles lightly. "It also, uh... makes the marked person more..." Star struggles to find a good way to say this. "Like, it boosts their... sex drive... a little bit, when they're with the person who marked them." Star blushes lightly after saying that, then adds, "And... it also lets your body naturally make, like... a mini-backup energy boost every so often... When you're, you know, with the person who marked you."

"Oh... Oooh." Marco says. "That's how... mewman males keep up with..."

Star nods, smiling a little wider as she pokes his chest. "Yeah... though, you went three rounds on your first time..." Marco blushes light, and she continues. "So next time, plus the marking... you may outdo me."

"Next time?" Marco teases, tilting his head. Star sticks her tongue out.

"Well, you may not keep up, mewberty and all." she says, laughing quietly at Marco's comment.

"... Oh, Star, about-"

"Yes, Marco, the answer is yes."

Marco freezes for a bit, then, "Uh... you mean the mewberty, right?"

"Yes. I... You can help with it."

Marco nods lightly. "Okay... tonight?"

Star shakes her head. "No, tomorrow night. You should rest, and... I don't feel that I can transform after... earlier... heh." Star grabs his hand in hers. "Thank you... for... wanting to do this... to help with this..."

"Duh. You shouldn't be surprised that I want to help you by now." Marco smiles wide, and Star feels butterflies in her stomach.

 _"I'm not..."_ Star thinks to herself, then says, "I know. You're the best."

"Eh." Marco shrugs his shoulders.

"You really are, though." Star presses on.

"I mean, I left you... and... you know, missed your birthday on Stump Day while I was gone... and hurt you..."

"I hurt you too, Marco. And I kinda forgot your birthday when you were here, so that's even, dummy." Star scoots over next to him and rests her head on his shoulder. "And what's more important is that you came back. Just... don't leave again."

Marco squeezes her hand tight. "I won't."

* * *

The last chapter of this arc will be another lemon, Marco and mewberty-form Star. The next arc will likely be the last of this story, but I am having some ideas for a potential sequel afterwards. Maybe. Hope you enjoyed reading! Feel free to review, and have a good day!


	21. Hiatus

I'm sorry, guys. I won't be updating for a bit. My grandfather is very sick and I'm spending the holidays over with my grandparents and family, as it's likely the last time I'll get to see him. I will update once I am done.

Wish you all have a great time this holiday season!


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